Thermodynamic and transport properties of dense hydrogen plasmas

Thermodynamic and transport properties of dense plasmas are expressed by Green's functions within a consistent quantum statistical approach. The equation of state for hydrogen plasma is evaluated within a generalized Beth-Uhlenbeck approach utilizing a quasiparticle picture for the one- and two-particle states. Taking into account also further clusters such as dimers and molecular ions, the stability behavior of the thermodynamic functions is studied with respect to the hypothetical plasma phase transition. The electrical and thermal conductivity, as well as the thermopower, are then calculated within the linear response theory as given by Zubarev. Especially, the effects of arbitrary degeneracy, ion-ion structure factor, screening, and of partial ionization are studied. The interactions between the various species are treated on the T matrix level. The numerical results interpolate between the Spitzer theory for fully ionized, nondegenerate plasmas and the Ziman theory for metallic densities. The plasma phase transition is accompanied by a metal-nonmetal transition, which is characterized by drastic changes of the electronic properties, as can be deduced from the behavior of the transport properties.