Quantum statistics of nonideal plasma. In collaboration with T. Bornath (Q2574648)

During the last decade, impressive developments and significant advance of the physics of nonideal plasmas in astrophysics and in laboratories can be observed. Many new results for thermodynamic and transport properties, for ionization kinetics, dielectric behavior, for the stopping power, laser-matter interaction, and relaxation processes have been achieved. In addition to the powerful methods of quantum statistics and the theory of liquids, numerical simulations like path integral Monte Carlo methods and molecular dynamic simulations have been applied. Thus, it was high time to present a new book on the quantum statistical theory of nonideal partially-ionized plasmas from a unified point of view of quantum field theoretical methods. In the present comprehensive work, on the one hand, an introduction is given into the quantum statistics of equilibrium and non-equilibrium systems on the basis of the methods of real-time Green's functions. On the other hand, the dynamical, the thermodynamic and the kinetic properties of strongly coupled plasmas are dealt with on a wide scale. After a short introduction, in chapter 2 of the book, on elementary level, essential concepts of the physics of nonideal plasmas are presented, such as static and dynamical screening and self-energy. Self-energy and screening lead to a lowering of the ionization energy and may result into a vanishing of bound states. This latter effect is the so-called Mott effect. Furthermore, the influence of many-particle effects on thermodynamic and transport properties of plasmas is described. Especially, consequences of the Mott effect are discussed, such as pressure ionization, plasma phase transition and metal insulator transition. Finally, transport processes and the ionization kinetics are considered on an elementary level. In chapter 3, an introduction is given to the method of real-time Green's functions in statistical physics. With real-time Green's functions, both equilibrium and non-equilibrium properties of plasmas may be described from a unique point of view. In addition to the information from the single-time distribution functions, or density matrices, respectively, the real-time Green's functions deliver dynamical information on the plasma, such as single- and two-particle energies, damping and other (quasiparticle) properties. Another advantage of such Green's functions is the existence of highly effective methods for their determination, such as Feynman diagram techniques, functional techniques and the formulation of equations of motion. The authors start chapter 3 with the definition and with the spectral properties of Green's functions, which are of importance for the interpretation of the apparatus and which, roughly speaking, subdivide the statistical and the dynamical information inherent in the Green's functions. Then, the problem of determining these functions from the Martin-Schwinger hierarchy is outlined, and the Keldysh contour is introduced. By introduction of the self-energy, a central quantity of the approach, formally closed equations for the one-particle Green's function are derived which account for initial correlations. These equations are the Kadanoff-Baym equations which are the basic equations for an essential part of the monography. Finally, the connection of the Green's functions with the expectation values of physical quantities is shown, such as density and mean energy value, i.e., with macroscopic quantities. The theory of many-particle systems with Coulomb interaction is developed in chapter 4. The basic equations of quantum statistics of Coulomb systems, especially the equation for the self-energy, are rearranged such that the Coulomb potential is replaced by a dynamically screened potential. Here, the authors follow the ideas of Martin and Schwinger, of Kadanoff and Baym, and of Bonch-Bruevich and Tyablikov using functional techniques. The dynamically screened potential reflects the collective behavior of the plasma and removes, at the same time, the formal difficulties of the theory of plasmas. Of course, this reformulation is much more complicated, as the dynamics of the particles and of the screened potential have to be determined self-consistently now. Finally, the dielectric function is formulated in terms of the screened potential. Furthermore, the random-phase approximation (RPA) is introduced as one of the standard approximations of many-particle theory, and on this basis, collective properties such as dynamical screening, plasma oscillations, and plasma fluctuations are extensively discussed. However the RPA discussed in chapter 4 is not appropriate for the description of a number of essential plasma properties such as bound states, scattering states beyond the Born approximation, and the lowering of energy of ionization and the related Mott-effect which means pressure ionization. The simplest approximation which allows for the description of bound states is the ladder approximation, or, for plasmas, the \textit{screened} ladder approximation, respectively. Therefore, a representation of such approximations is given in chapter 5. The two-particle properties in a plasma are appropriately described in terms of the two-particle Green's function, which, in turn, is determined by the Bethe-Salpeter equation. This equation is considered, both in statistically and in dynamically screened ladder approximation, and, on this basis, the influence of the plasma on bound and scattering states, and the lowering of the ionization energy as well as the Mott effect are discussed. On the basis of the approach developed so far, the thermodynamic properties of the plasma are presented in chapter 6. The authors start from exact relations for the determination of thermodynamic functions of the plasma in grand canonical ensemble, and they write such functions in terms of the screened potential. Then these equations are considered on the level of the dynamically screened ladder approximation. First, the contributions of first and second order, i.e., Hartree-Fock and Montroll-Ward contributions are investigated in detail. Besides results for the density order 5/2 (which are important for helioseismology) and contributions proportional to \(e^4\) (exchange terms) and \(e^6\) are discussed (\(e\) -- elementary charge). For the aim of practical application of quantum statistical results Padé formulas are presented. In order to account for effects of strong correlations, the contribution of higher ladder terms to the equation of state (EOS) are investigated and represented in the form of generalized cluster coefficients. With such contributions, bound states are included in the EOS. The problem of the subdivision of the cluster coefficient into bound and scattering states at higher densities is difficult for Coulomb systems and is analyzed using higher order Levinson theorems. In connection to this, the role of the so-called Planck-Larkin sum of bound states is discussed. In this physical picture, the plasma is a system of charged particles in charged and scattering states. The EOS in grand canonical ensemble enables us, introducing the bound states as atoms, to perform a transformation from the physical picture into a chemical description with an equilibrium of ionization. This transformation gives, in addition to the EOS in the chemical picture, a mass action law (Saha equation) for the determination of the plasma composition. An essential part of chapter 6 is devoted to the important problem of the EOS of the H-plasma. Of course, the screened ladder approximation presented up to now gives only asymptotic results and cannot describe the EOS over the full range of density and temperature. Here methods of liquid theory and simulations like path integral Monte-Carlo or molecular dynamic simulations are necessary. The next chapters of the book are devoted to the non-equilibrium properties of plasmas. In chapter 7 the authors develop the theory of quantum kinetic equations of nonideal plasmas. The starting point are the Kadanoff-Baym equations. First a discussion of short-time processes and energy relaxation by numerical solutions of the Kadanoff-Baym equations are discussed. Then kinetic equations relevant for plasma physics are derived, e.g.\ the quantum Landau equation, the Boltzmann equation and the Lenard-Balescu equation. The kinetic equations in their non-Markovian form and in the Markovian approximation are considered. The properties of these equations, and especially the problem of conservation laws for nonideal systems are discussed. An essential question is the appearance of bound states in kinetic equations. In chapter 8, relaxation processes in the hydrodynamic stage are considered. The authors start with rate equations to investigate the ionization and population kinetics in nonideal plasmas. Further, they treat the quantum kinetic theory of the stopping power. Finally, in chapter 9, the behavior of dense plasmas under the influence of external electro-magnetic fields is studied. The first part of the chapter deals with the theory of plasmas in time-dependent electric fields. Due to the recent impressive progress in laser technology, which makes femto-second laser pulses of very high intensity available, this problem is of current interest. Since the fundamental works by Silin, one knows that the description of ultra fast processes under the influence of high-frequency fields needs non-Markovian kinetic equations. Therefore, the authors present first the generalization of the kinetic equations including laser fields. Starting from these equations a quantum kinetic theory of laser-matter interaction is developed. For weak laser fields, a generalization of the Drude formulas with frequency dependent collision frequencies is discussed, and on this basis absorption and emission of radiation in weak laser fields is described. In the case of strong laser fields, nonlinear effects are treated, and results concerning collisional absorption (inverse bremsstrahlung) are presented. The second part of chapter 9 gives a treatment of the theory of the statistical conductivity. On the basis of the kinetic equations derived in chapter 7, the conductivity is considered for fully and partially ionized plasmas using standard methods of transport theory. In the case of the partially ionized plasma, one has to start from the kinetic equations with bound states and the conductivity is determined together with the Saha equations for the plasma composition. Taking into account the lowering of the ionization energy this consideration allows the description of the Mott transition by the behavior of the conductivity. The bibliography at the end of the volume includes relevant monographs and original papers. The book is intended as a graduate-level textbook. But it is also useful to researchers in the field of plasma physics and quantum statistics. (Large parts of the review are taken from the preface and the well-presented introduction of the book.)