Examination of the validity of quantum statistical potentials for carbon

In recent years, high power laser facilities, such as NIF, and advanced diagnostics have enabled the determination of detailed properties of dense plasmas over unprecedented regimes. Understanding such plasmas, which may be partially degenerate and/or moderately coupled, represents a major challenge to the plasma physics community. One particular challenge for research in this area is the development of interaction potentials which appropriately incorporate the effects of high electron temperature. We examine the accuracy and applicability of approximate effective potentials in the study of structural and dynamic properties carbon in the partially and fully ionized regimes. The diffractive Coulomb potential is derived from an exact quantum solution for a pair of particles while the fermionic character of the electrons is handled via an effective Pauli potential. We compare computed pressures and internal energies for carbon to an equation of state model that was developed based on path integral Monte Carlo and density functional theory. Prepared by LLNL under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-795399