The study of the high pressure phase diagram of hydrogen has continued with renewed effort for about one century as it remains a fundamental challenge for experimental and theoretical techniques. Here we employ an efficient molecular dynamics based on the quantum Monte Carlo method, which can describe accurately the electronic correlation and treat a large number of hydrogen atoms, allowing a realistic and reliable prediction of thermodynamic roperties. We find that the molecular liquid phase is unexpectedly stable and the transition towards a fully atomic liquid phase occurs at much higher pressure than previously believed. The old standing problem of low temperature atomization is, therefore, still far from experimental reach.
@article{arxiv.1404.5471,
title = {Unexpectedly high pressure for molecular dissociation in liquid hydrogen by a reliable electronic simulation},
author = {Guglielmo Mazzola and Seiji Yunoki and Sandro Sorella},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1404.5471},
year = {2014}
}