Dynamically Compressed Metals - Theory
Abstract
The major theme of this research concerns the physics of systems that are subjected to conditions typical of shock or explosive environments. The focus is mainly but not exclusively on metallic systems; under shock loading they usually acquire a very substantial increase in temperature. In fact, for nuclear driven shocks the temperatures can become significant compared even with the Fermi temperature, and the systems are then taken quite far r from degeneracy. Central to the theory of any metallic system is the physics of the underlying electron gas; what is required is a theory capable to giving its thermodynamic functions over a range spanning the extreme quantum to classical limits. Such a theory has been developed and under the present grant has been applied to nearly free electron metallic systems. The major results of this research is the presentation of a unified theory that describes both the thermodynamic and dielectric properties of an interacting electron fluid throughout the full range of thermal degeneracy, that is, from the ground state( a degenerate Fermi plasma) to the classical domain where the system becomes a prototypical one-component plasma. In this work, we have obtained results that are quite accurate up to significantly large values of the coupling strength characteristic of the system. Furthermore, we have provided closed form parametrizations both of the thermodynamic functions, and of the dielectric response function of the electron gas is at the heart of the physics of the metallic state, these results, in parameterized forms, should be widely beneficial to a wide class of problem involving shocked metals.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 28, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA210741
Entities
People
- N. W. Ashcroft
Organizations
- Cornell Laboratory of Atomic and Solid State Physics