ABSTRACT
Hot, dense hydrogen is studied with a classical model in which the interaction energy between atoms depends on their internal spins as well as their separation distance. The spins are treated as classical variables. This model is used in Monte Carlo simulations to calculate internal energies, pressures, and pair correlation functions, as well as the Hugoniot for shocked liquid deuterium. The results clearly show the transition of hot, dense hydrogen from a molecular to an atomic fluid. Our results are in reasonable agreement with far more elaborate quantum mechanical simulations.
ABSTRACT
Since the invention of quantum mechanics, even the simplest example of the collisional breakup of a system of charged particles, e(-) + H --> H(+) + e(-) + e(-) (where e(-) is an electron and H is hydrogen), has resisted solution and is now one of the last unsolved fundamental problems in atomic physics. A complete solution requires calculation of the energies and directions for a final state in which all three particles are moving away from each other. Even with supercomputers, the correct mathematical description of this state has proved difficult to apply. A framework for solving ionization problems in many areas of chemistry and physics is finally provided by a mathematical transformation of the Schrodinger equation that makes the final state tractable, providing the key to a numerical solution of this problem that reveals its full dynamics.
