Phase transition in strongly degenerate hydrogen plasma

Direct fermionic path-integral Monte Carlo simulations of strongly coupled hydrogen are presented. Our results show evidence for the hypothetical plasma phase transition. Its most remarkable manifestation is the appearance of metallic droplets, which are predicted to be crucial for the electrical conductivity and allow one to explain the rapid increase found in recent shock compression measurements. (C) 2001 MAIK Nauka/Interperiodica.