Molecular dynamics simulations of temperature equilibration in dense hydrogen

The temperature equilibration rate between electrons and protons in dense hydrogen has been calculated with molecular dynamics simulations for temperatures between 10 and 600 eV and densities between 1020 cm(-3) to 10(24) cm(-3). Careful attention has been devoted to convergence of the simulations, including the role of semiclassical potentials. We find that for Coulomb logarithms L >= 1, a model by Gericke-Murillo-Schlanges (GMS) [D. O. Gericke et al., Phys. Rev. E 65, 036418 (2002)] based on a T-matrix method and the approach by Brown-Preston-Singleton [L. S. Brown et al., Phys. Rep. 410, 237 (2005)] agrees with the simulation data to within the error bars of the simulation. For smaller Coulomb logarithms, the GMS model is consistent with the simulation results. Landau-Spitzer models are consistent with the simulation data for L >= 4.