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In a classical ideal plasma, a magnetic field is known to reduce the heat conductivity perpendicular to the field whereas it does not alter the one along the field. Here we show that, in strongly correlated plasmas that are observed at high pressure or/and low temperature, a magnetic field reduces the perpendicular heat transport much less and even {\it enhances} the parallel transport. These surprising observations are explained by the competition of kinetic, potential and collisional contributions to the heat conductivity. Our results are based on first principle molecular dynamics simulations of a one-component plasma.

Correlated fermions are of high interest in condensed matter (Fermi liquids, Wigner molecules), cold atomic gases and dense plasmas. Here we propose a novel approach to path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations of strongly degenerate non-ideal fermions at finite temperature by combining a fourth-order factorization of the density matrix with antisymmetric propagators, i.e., determinants, between all imaginary time slices. To efficiently run through the modified configuration space, we introduce a modification of the widely used continuous space worm algorithm, which allows for an efficient sampling at arbitrary system parameters. We demonstrate how the application of determinants achieves an effective blocking of permutations with opposite signs, leading to a significant relieve of the fermion sign problem. To benchmark the capability of our method regarding the simulation of degenerate fermions, we consider multiple electrons in a quantum dot and compare our results with other ab initio techniques, where they are available. The present permutation blocking path integral Monte Carlo approach allows us to obtain accurate results even for $N=20$ electrons at low temperature and arbitrary coupling, where no other ab initio results have been reported, so far.

The effective dynamically screened potential of a classical ion in a stationary flowing quantum plasma at finite temperature is investigated. This is a key quantity for thermodynamics and transport of dense plasmas in the warm dense matter regime. This potential has been studied before within hydrodynamic approaches or based on the zero temperature Lindhard dielectric function. Here we extend the kinetic analysis by including the effects of finite temperature and of collisions based on the Mermin dielectric function. The resulting ion potential exhibits an oscillatory structure with attractive minima (wakes) and, thus, strongly deviates from the static Yukawa potential of equilibrium plasmas. This potential is analyzed in detail for high-density plasmas with values of the Brueckner parameter in the range $0.1 \le r_s \le 1$, for a broad range of plasma temperature and electron streaming velocity. It is shown that wake effects become weaker with increasing temperature of the electrons. Finally, we obtain the minimal electron streaming velocity for which attraction between ions occurs. This velocity turns out to be less than the electron Fermi velocity. Our results allow, for the first time, for reliable predictions of the strength of wake effects in nonequilibrium quantum plasmas with fast streaming electrons showing that these effects are crucial for transport under warm dense matter conditions, in particular for laser-matter interaction, electron-ion temperature equilibration and for stopping power., Comment: Substantially extended version. New figures added

The electrostatic potential of a moving dust grain in a complex plasma with magnetized ions is computed using linear response theory, thereby extending our previous work for unmagnetized plasmas [P. Ludwig et al., New J. Phys. 14, 053016 (2012)]. In addition to the magnetic field, our approach accounts for a finite ion temperature as well as ion-neutral collisions. Our recently introduced code \texttt{Kielstream} is used for an efficient calculation of the dust potential. Increasing the magnetization of the ions, we find that the shape of the potential crucially depends on the Mach number $M$. In the regime of subsonic ion flow ($M<1$), a strong magnetization gives rise to a potential distribution that is qualitatively different from the unmagnetized limit, while for $M>1$ the magnetic field effectively suppresses the plasma wakefield.

The Hubbard model is a prototype for strongly correlated many-particle systems, including electrons in condensed matter and molecules, as well as for fermions or bosons in optical lattices. While the equilibrium properties of these systems have been studied in detail, the nonequilibrium dynamics following a strong non-perturbative excitation only recently came into the focus of experiments and theory. It is of particular interest how the dynamics depend on the coupling strength and on the particle number and whether there exist universal features in the time evolution. Here, we present results for the dynamics of finite Hubbard clusters based on a selfconsistent nonequilibrium Green functions (NEGF) approach invoking the generalized Kadanoff--Baym ansatz (GKBA). We discuss the conserving properties of the GKBA with Hartree--Fock propagators in detail and present a generalized form of the energy conservation criterion of Baym and Kadanoff for NEGF. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the HF-GKBA cures some artifacts of prior two-time NEGF simulations. Besides, this approach substantially speeds up the numerical calculations and thus presents the capability to study comparatively large systems and to extend the analysis to long times allowing for an accurate computation of the excitation spectrum via time propagation. Our data obtained within the second Born approximation compares favorably with exact diagonalization results (available for up to 13 particles) and are expected to have predictive capability for substantially larger systems in the weak coupling limit.

The most attractive feature of dusty plasmas is the possibility to create strong correlations at room temperatures. At the same time, these plasmas allow for a precise diagnostics with single-particle resolution. From such measurements, the structural properties of finite two-dimensional (2D) clusters and three-dimensional (3D) spherical crystals in nearly harmonic traps-Yukawa balls-have been explored in great detail. Their structural properties-the shell compositions and the order within the shells-have been investigated and good agreement to theoretical predictions was found. Open questions on the agenda are the excitation behavior, the structural changes, and phase transitions that occur at elevated temperature. In order to increase the dust temperature in the experiment various techniques have been used. Among them, laser heating appears to have unique capabilities because it affects only the dust particles, leaving the lighter plasma components unchanged. Here we report on recent experimental results where laser heating methods were further improved and applied to finite 2D and 3D clusters. Comparing to simulations, we demonstrate that this indeed allows to increase the temperature in a controlled manner. For the analysis of thermodynamics and phase transitions in these finite systems, we present theoretical and experimental results on the basis of the instantaneous normal modes, pair distribution function and the recently introduced center-two-particle distribution function.

We investigate the quantum breathing mode (monopole oscillation) of trapped fermionic particles with Coulomb and dipole interaction in one and two dimensions. This collective oscillation has been shown to reveal detailed information on the many-particle state of interacting trapped systems and is thus a sensitive diagnostics for a variety of finite systems, including cold atomic and molecular gases in traps and optical lattics, electrons in metal clusters and in quantum confined semiconductor structures or nanoplasmas. An improved sum rule formalism allows us to accurately determine the breathing frequencies from the ground state of the system, avoiding complicated time-dependent simulations. In combination with the Hartree-Fock and the Thomas-Fermi approximations this enables us to extend the calculations to large particle numbers $N$ on the order of several million. Tracing the breathing frequency to large $N$ as a function of the coupling parameter of the system reveals a surprising difference of the asymptotic behavior of one-dimensional and two-dimensional harmonically trapped Coulomb systems., Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures

Quantum plasma physics is a rapidly evolving research field with a very inter-disciplinary scope of potential applications, ranging from nano-scale science in condensed matter to the vast scales of astrophysical objects. The theoretical description of quantum plasmas relies on various approaches, microscopic or macroscopic, some of which have obvious relation to classical plasma models. The appropriate model should, in principle, incorporate the quantum mechanical effects such as diffraction, spin statistics and correlations, operative on the relevant scales. However, first-principle approaches such as quantum Monte Carlo and density functional theory or quantum-statistical methods such as quantum kinetic theory or non-equilibrium Green's functions require substantial theoretical and computational efforts. Therefore, for selected problems, alternative simpler methods have been put forward. In particular, the collective behavior of many-body systems is usually described within a self-consistent scheme of particles and fields on the mean-field level. In classical plasmas, further simplifications are achieved by a transition to hydrodynamic equations. % Similar fluid-type descriptions for quantum plasmas have been proposed and widely used in the recent decade. This chapter is devoted to an overview of the main concepts of quantum hydrodynamics (QHD), thereby critically analyzing its validity range and its main limitations. Furthermore, the results of the linearized QHD in unmagnetized and magnetized plasmas and a few nonlinear solutions are examined with illustrations. The basic concepts and formulation of particle-particle interactions are also reviewed at the end, indicating their possible consequences in quantum many-body problems., Comment: Chapter in Book "Complex Plasmas: Scientific Challenges and Technological Opportunities" Editors: M. Bonitz, K. Becker, J. Lopez and H. Thomsen Springer, to be published 2013

A rotating dusty plasma apparatus was constructed to provide the possibility of experimental emulation of extremely high magnetic fields by means of the Coriolis force, observable in a co-rotating measurement frame. We present collective excitation spectra for different rotation rates with a magnetic induction equivalent of up to 3200 Tesla. We identify the onset of magnetoplasmon-equivalent mode dispersion in the rotating macroscopic two-dimensional single-layer dusty plasma. The experimental results are supported by molecular dynamics simulations of 2D magnetized Yukawa systems., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, accepted by PRL

Biographical essay at the occasion of the first death anniversary of Manfred Bonitz, Comment: 8 pages; Scientometrics 2013, First On-line

Dusty plasmas are a model system for studying strong correlation. The dust grains' size of a few micro-meters and their characteristic oscillation frequency of a few hertz allows for an investigation of many particle effects on an atomic level. In this article, we model the heat transport through an axially confined 2D dust cluster from the center to the outside. The system behaves particularly interesting since heat is not only conducted within the dust component but also transfered to the neutral gas. Fitting the analytical solution to the obtained radial temperature profiles allows to determine the heat conductivity $\kheat$. The heat conductivity is found to be constant over a wide range of coupling strengths even including the phase transition from solid to liquid here, as it was also found in extended systems by V. Nosenko et al. in 2008 \cite{PhysRevLett.100.025003}

We introduce the time-dependent restricted active space Configuration Interaction method to solve the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for many-electron atoms, and particularly apply it to the treatment of photoionization processes in atoms. The method is presented in a very general formulation and incorporates a wide range of commonly used approximation schemes, like the single-active electron approximation, time-dependent Configuration Interaction with single-excitations, or the time-dependent R-matrix method. We proof the applicability of the method by calculating the photoionization cross sections of Helium and Beryllium, as well as the X-ray--IR pump-probe ionization in Beryllium, Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures

The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in 2D dipolar systems has been studied recently by path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) simulations [A. Filinov et al., PRL 105, 070401 (2010)]. Here, we complement this analysis and study temperature-coupling strength dependence of the density (particle-hole) and single-particle (SP) excitation spectra both in superfluid and normal phases. The dynamic structure factor, S(q,omega), of the longitudinal excitations is rigorously reconstructed with full information on damping. The SP spectral function, A(q,omega), is worked out from the one-particle Matsubara Green's function. A stochastic optimization method is applied for reconstruction from imaginary times. In the superfluid regime sharp energy resonances are observed both in the density and SP excitations. The involved hybridization of both spectra is discussed. In contrast, in the normal phase, when there is no coupling, the density modes, beyond acoustic phonons, are significantly damped. Our results generalize previous zero temperature analyses based on variational many-body wavefunctions [F. Mazzanti et al., PRL 102, 110405 (2009), D. Hufnagl et al., PRL 107, 065303 (2011)], where the underlying physics of the excitation spectrum and the role of the condensate has not been addressed., Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, 7 tables

Extending our previous work, we explore the breathing mode---the [uniform] radial expansion and contraction of a spatially confined system. We study the breathing mode across the transition from the ideal quantum to the classical regime and confirm that it is not independent of the pair interaction strength (coupling parameter). We present the results of time-dependent Hartree-Fock simulations for 2 to 20 fermions with Coulomb interaction and show how the quantum breathing mode depends on the particle number. We validate the accuracy of our results, comparing them to exact Configuration Interaction results for up to 8 particles.

Dust Dynamics Simulations utilizing a dynamical screening approach are performed to study the effect of ion-streaming on the self-organized structures in a three-dimensional spherically confined complex (dusty) plasma. Varying the Mach number M - the ratio of ion drift velocity to the sound velocity, the simulations reproduce the experimentally observed cluster configurations in the two limiting cases: at M=0 strongly correlated crystalline structures consisting of nested spherical shells (Yukawa balls) and, for M\geq1, flow-aligned dust chains, respectively. In addition, our simulations reveal a discontinuous transition between these two limits. It is found that already a moderate ion drift velocity (M\approx0.1) destabilizes the highly ordered Yukawa balls and initiates an abrupt melting transition. The critical value of M is found to be independent of the cluster size.

The theoretical description of complex (dusty) plasmas requires multiscale concepts that adequately incorporate the correlated interplay of streaming electrons and ions, neutrals, and dust grains. Knowing the effective dust-dust interaction, the multiscale problem can be effectively reduced to a one-component plasma model of the dust subsystem. The goal of the present publication is a systematic evaluation of the electrostatic potential distribution around a dust grain in the presence of a streaming plasma environment by means of two complementary approaches: (i) a high precision computation of the dynamically screened Coulomb potential from the dynamic dielectric function, and (ii) full 3D particle-in-cell simulations, which self-consistently include dynamical grain charging and non-linear effects. The applicability of these two approaches is addressed.

A theoretical description of the radial density profile for charged particles with Yukawa interaction in a harmonic trap is described. At strong Coulomb coupling shell structure is observed in both computer simulations and experiments. Correlations responsible for such shell structure are described here using a recently developed model based in density functional theory. A wide range of particle number, Coulomb coupling, and screening lengths is considered within the fluid phase. A hypernetted chain approximation shows the formation of shell structure, but fails to give quantitative agreement with Monte Carlo simulation results at strong coupling. Significantly better agreement is obtained within the hypernetted chain structure using a renormalized coupling constant, representing bridge function corrections., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures

A system of N classical Coulomb charges trapped in a harmonic potential displays shell structure and orientational ordering. The local density profile is well understood from theory, simulation, and experiment. Here, pair correlations are considered for this highly inhomogeneous system for both the fluid and ordered states. In the former, it is noted that there is a close relationship to pair correlations in the uniform OCP. For the ordered state, it is shown that the disordered "tiling" is closely related to the ground state Thomson sites for a single sphere., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figues. Results presented at "Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems", Budapest, Hungary, July 2011. Conference proceedings to be published in "Contribution to Plasma Physics"

In this contribution, we discuss the finite-element discrete variable representation (FE-DVR) of the nonequilibrium Green's function and its implications on the description of strongly inhomogeneous quantum systems. In detail, we show that the complementary features of FEs and the DVR allows for a notably more efficient solution of the two-time Schwinger/Keldysh/Kadanoff-Baym equations compared to a general basis approach. Particularly, the use of the FE-DVR leads to an essential speedup in computing the self-energies. As atomic and molecular examples we consider the He atom and the linear version of H$_3^+$ in one spatial dimension. For these closed-shell models we, in Hartree-Fock and second Born approximation, compute the ground-state properties and compare with the exact findings obtained from the solution of the few-particle time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation., Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, submitted as proceedings of conference "PNGF IV"

Semi-classical methods of statistical mechanics can incorporate essential quantum effects by using effective quantum potentials. An ideal Fermi gas interacting with an impurity is represented by a classical fluid with effective electron-electron and electron-impurity quantum potentials. The electron-impurity quantum potential is evaluated at weak coupling, leading to a generalization of the Kelbg potential to include both diffraction and degeneracy effects. The electron-electron quantum potential for exchange effects only is the same as that discussed earlier by others., Comment: to appear in the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry

The dynamics of fluctuations is considered for electrons near a positive ion or for charges in a confining trap. The stationary nonuniform equilibrium densities are discussed and contrasted. The linear response function for small perturbations of this nonuniform state is calculated from a linear Markov kinetic theory whose generator for the dynamics is exact in the short time limit. The kinetic equation is solved in terms of an effective mean field single particle dynamics determined by the local density and dynamical screening by a dielectric function for the non-uniform system. The autocorrelation function for the total force on the charges is discussed., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Results presented at the "International Conference on Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems", Camerino, Italy, July 2008. Submitted for publication in the conference proceedings (special issue of Journal of Physics A)

Classical molecular dynamics (MD) is a well established and powerful tool in various fields of science, e.g. chemistry, plasma physics, cluster physics and condensed matter physics. Objects of investigation are few-body systems and many-body systems as well. The broadness and level of sophistication of this technique is documented in many monographs and reviews, see for example \cite{Allan,Frenkel,mdhere}. Here we discuss the extension of MD to quantum systems (QMD). There have been many attempts in this direction which differ from one another, depending on the type of system under consideration. One direction of QMD has been developed for condensed matter systems and will not discussed here, e.g. \cite{fermid}. In this chapter we are dealing with unbound electrons as they occur in gases, fluids or plasmas. Here, one strategy is to replace classical point particles by wave packets, e.g. \cite{fermid,KTR94,zwicknagel06} which is quite successful. At the same time, this method struggles with problems related to the dispersion of such a packet and difficulties to properly describe strong electron-ion interaction and bound state formation. We, therefore, avoid such restrictions and consider a completely general alternative approach. We start discussion of quantum dynamics from a general consideration of quantum distribution functions., Comment: 18 pages, based on lecture at Hareaus school on computational phyics, Greifswald, September 2006

This chapter is devoted to the computation of equilibrium (thermodynamic) properties of quantum systems. In particular, we will be interested in the situation where the interaction between particles is so strong that it cannot be treated as a small perturbation. For weakly coupled systems many efficient theoretical and computational techniques do exist. However, for strongly interacting systems such as nonideal gases or plasmas, strongly correlated electrons and so on, perturbation methods fail and alternative approaches are needed. Among them, an extremely successful one is the Monte Carlo (MC) method which we are going to consider in this chapter., Comment: 18 pages, based on talks on Hareaus school on computational methods, Greifswald, September 2006

The interaction of partially ionized plasmas with an electromagnetic field is investigated using quantum statistical methods. A general statistical expression for the current density of a plasma in an electromagnetic field is presented and considered in the high field regime. Expressions for the collisional absorption are derived and discussed. Further, partially ionized plasmas are considered. Plasma Bloch equations for the description of bound-free transitions are given and the absorption coefficient as well as rate coefficients for multiphoton ionization are derived and numerical results are presented., Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys.: Conf. Ser