Electrical conductivity of dense metal plasmas

Abstract

The composition of dense metal plasmas is calculated considering higher ionization stages of the atoms. A system of coupled mass action laws is solved self-consistently taking into account medium corrections which lead to pressure ionization at high densities. The electrical conductivity is calculated within linear response theory. The interactions between the various species are treated on T matrix level. The numerical results for the electrical conductivity are in reasonable agreement with new experimental data for nonideal Al and Cu plasmas. Comparison with other theories is performed.