Phase Properties, Electronic States, and Atomic and Molecular Processes in Dense Multi-Ionic Plasmas

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Dense plasmas encountered in nature and laboratories consist in mixtures of multi-ionic species. Possible phase transitions (freezing, phase separation, ionization, etc.) and associated atomic processes are important issues in the applications to astrophysics, inertialconfinement fusion research, and condensed matter physics.The progress made in this research includes the following :1. Accurate determination of the equations of state for a variety of ionic mixtures with different charge ratios and compositions through combination of Monte, - Carlo (MC) simuations and integral-equation theories. Phase diagrams for the white-dwarf stellar materials (C-0, CFe, C-Ne-Fe) have been constructed.2. Analytical modeling of the equations of state, the transport coefficients and the screening functions in dense hydrogen plasmas. "Incipient Rydberg states", reflecting the strong electron-ion correlations near the metal-insulator boundaries, have been incorporated in a physically transparent manner.3. Elucidation of general and specific features for nuclear reactions in dense plasmas : The nuclear-fusion reactions have been classified into the binary processes (Gamow), few-particle processes (electron-screened), and many-particle processes (internuclear correlations). The nuclear reaction rates for C-C in white -dwarfs and for p-d, d-d, and p-Li in metallic substances have been calculated.4. Conductivities and elastic moduli of the outer crust of neutron stars have been computed by means of MC simulations.5. Quantum MC simulations have been carried out for the free energy of Coulomb solids ; equation of state for quantum solids has been obtained.6. A spin-density functional method for describing atomic states has been formulated. The validity and accuracy have been confirmed through an explicit calculation of the He ground state.