Simulation of hydrogen plasma with cluster multi-range interpolation

In the present work, we use the recently developed cluster multi-range interpolation (CMRI) (Valuev 2005 Comput. Phys. Commun. 169 60) of interaction potentials to simulate hydrogen plasma using molecular dynamics (MD). The interpolation is based on variational mixing of cluster connectivity within a given system of electrons and ions described by coordinates of the particles. The use of potential interpolation based on connectivity allows us to treat the collisions of small numbers of particles (up to two ions and three electrons together) by more accurate empirical models and treat such processes as ionization or molecule formation by means of MD simulation on single-valued smooth approximate N-particle potential energy surfaces. The construction of the scheme and the results of equilibrium MD simulations are discussed. Energy spectra and particle pair correlation functions are compared between the current CMRI model and two classical models with pair pseudopotentials.