Noble gases and hydrogen at high pressures.

The equation of state of the noble gases helium, argon, and xenon as well as of hydrogen and deuterium is determined by considering reactions such as dissociation and ionization within a chemical picture. The molecular and atomic constituents, i.e.

Simulations of fluid hydrogen: comparison of a dissociation model with tight-binding molecular dynamics.

We compare the results of two complementary approaches, tight-binding molecular-dynamics simulations and a dissociation model, for determining the characteristics of dense, fluid hydrogen at pressures extending to megabars and temperatures to 10 000 K. Two tight-binding models were examined: one parametrization emphasized crystalline, molecular, and fluid properties, the other focused more on the intricate molecular interactions involving up to four hydrogen atoms. The two tight-binding cases and the dissociation model agree reasonably well for a variety of properties, including the equation of state, dissociation degree, and proton pair-correlation functions.

Isentropes and Hugoniot curves for dense hydrogen and deuterium.

Multiple-shock experiments with fluid hydrogen have shown that a transition from semiconducting behavior to metal-like conductivity occurs at pressures (p) of about 140 GPa and temperatures (T) near 3000 K. We model the p-T pathway by Hugoniot curves (initial shock) and isentropes (subsequent shocks). For the calculation of these curves we apply an expression for the free energy developed recently for dense hydrogen and deuterium plasma in the regions of partial dissociation and partial ionization.

Metallization of hydrogen using heavy-ion-beam implosion of multilayered cylindrical targets.

Employing a two-dimensional simulation model, this paper presents a suitable design for an experiment to study metallization of hydrogen in a heavy-ion beam imploded multilayered cylindrical target that contains a layer of frozen hydrogen. Such an experiment will be carried out at the upgraded heavy-ion synchrotron facility (SIS-18) at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt by the end of the year 2001. In these calculations we consider a uranium beam that will be available at the upgraded SIS-18.