English

The uniform electron gas at high temperatures: \emph{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo simulations and analytical theory

Plasma Physics 2022-11-23 v1 Statistical Mechanics

Abstract

We present extensive new \emph{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations of the uniform electron gas (UEG) in the high-temperature regime, 8θ=kBT/EF1288\leq\theta=k_\textnormal{B}T/E_\textnormal{F}\leq128. This allows us to study the convergence of different properties towards the classical limit. In particular, we investigate the classical relation between the static structure factor S(q)S(\mathbf{q}) and the static local field correction G(q)G(\mathbf{q}), which is only fulfilled at low densities. Moreover, we compare our new results for the interaction energy to the parametrization of the UEG by Groth \emph{et al.}~[PRL \textbf{119}, 135001 (2017)], which interpolates between PIMC results for θ8\theta\leq8 and the Debye-H\"uckel limit, and to higher order analytical virial expansions. Finally, we consider the momentum distribution function n(q)n(\mathbf{q}) and find an interaction-induced increase in the occupation of the zero-momentum state even for θ32\theta\gtrsim32. All PIMC data are freely available online, and can be used as input for improved parametrizations and as a rigorous benchmark for approximate methods.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2202.02736,
  title  = {The uniform electron gas at high temperatures: \emph{ab initio} path integral Monte Carlo simulations and analytical theory},
  author = {Tobias Dornheim and Jan Vorberger and Zhandos Moldabekov and Gerd Röpke and Wolf-Dietrich Kraeft},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2202.02736},
  year   = {2022}
}