Melting line and new metastable state of hydrogen at megabar pressures

We present a model of a quantum conductive fluid which forms as the molecular crystal hydrogen is subjected to melting at megabar pressures. This model explains the recent experimental observations of anomalies in this melting process. The model is founded on the cell approach that takes the contribution of localized states into consideration. We show that, for temperatures below 13000 K, the fluid produced by the melting process may exist in a metastable state with a density similar to 2.3 g/cm(3), and may possibly retain this state after the depressurization. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2010