The quantum hypernetted chain model of warm dense matter

Modeling warm dense matter, where a combination of partial ionization, partial electron degeneracy, and strong ion-ion and ion-electron coupling occur, is a frontier of equation of state research. We present the quantum hypernetted chain model which can be applied to studies of liquid metals, warm dense matter, and plasmas. This is an all-electron model that considers a mixture of a classical fluid of ions (with bound electrons) and a quantum electron fluid. The model describes self-consistently the structure of the ion fluid as well as the bound states of the ions and the non-linear response of the electron fluid. We present our initial results and compare them with experimental and ab initio results for liquid metals and low-temperature plasmas. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.