Nonlocal Pseudopotential and the Thermodynamics of Metallic Helium

Authors

  • V.T. Shvets Odesa National Technological University
  • E.V. Cherevko Odesa National Technological University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15407/ujpe67.11.790

Keywords:

pseudopotential of electron-ion interaction, metallic helium, internal energy, free energy, equation of state

Abstract

Thermodynamic properties of liquid metallic helium have been studied in the framework of perturbation theory of the second-order in the electron-ion interaction pseudopotential. The latter was determined from the first principles and was found to be nonlocal and nonlinear. The pseudopotential nonlocality leads to the appearance of the first-order terms in the series expansions of the internal energy, free energy, and pressure of liquid metallic helium in the pseudopotential. The diagonal matrix element of this term is of the same order of magnitude as that in the zero-order term. As a result, the first-order term makes a substantial contribution to the internal and free energies, so that their dependences on the density and the temperature become stronger. Accordingly, the pressure at which the liquid phase of metallic helium can be realized increases. This pressure is an order of magnitude higher than the corresponding pressure in metallic hydrogen and is currently unattainable experimentally. The analysis of the entropy made it possible to determine the region of existence for the liquid metallic helium phase and the conditions for its crystallization. A comparison between the densities, pressures, and temperatures inside such gas giants as Jupiter and Saturn allowed us to conclude that not only hydrogen but also helium are in the metallic state in the central parts of those planets. However, the pressure in their interiors is insufficient for helium to crystallize.

References

A. Harrison. Pseudopotentials in the Theory of Metals (W.A. Benjamin, Inc., 1966).

V.T. Shvets. Extremal State of the Substance. Metallization (Grin D.S., 2016) (in Ukrainian) [ISBN: 978-966-7591-59-5].

V.T. Shvets. First-principles pseudopotential and interionic interaction in metallic helium. Phys. Met. Metallogr. 122, 950 (2021).

https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031918X21100112

S.T. Weir, A.C. Mitchell, W.J. Nellis. Metallization of fluid molecular hydrogen at 140 GPa (1.4 Mbar). Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 1860 (1996).

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.1860

C. Narayana, H. Luo, J. Orloff, A. L. Ruoff et al. Solid hydrogen at 342 GPa: no evidence for an alkali metal. Nature 393, 46 (1998).

https://doi.org/10.1038/29949

M.I. Eremets, I.A. Troyan. Conductive dense hydrogen. Nature Materials 10, 927 (2011).

https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3175

M. Bastea, A.C. Mitchell, W.J. Nellis. High pressure insulator-metal transition in molecular fluid oxygen. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 3108 (2001).

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.3108

R. Chau, A.C. Mitchell, R.W. Minich, W.J. Nellis. Metallization of fluid nitrogen and the Mott transition in highly compressed low-z fluid. Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 245501 (2003).

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.90.245501

E. Østgaard. Solid helium ground-state energy, pressure, compressibility and phase transition at high densities. Physica 74, 113 (1974).

https://doi.org/10.1016/0031-8914(74)90187-6

E. Østgaard. Solid helium. Ground-state energy, pressure, and phase transition at high densities. Phys. Lett. A 46, 417 (1974).

https://doi.org/10.1016/0375-9601(74)90943-8

J. Eggert, P. Celliers, G. Collins, D. Hicks, S. Brygoo, P. Loubeyre, R. Jeanloz, R. McWilliams, T. Boehly. Observation of metallic helium: equation of state and transport measurements under astrophysical conditions. In: International Conference on Plasma Science, Monterey, CA, USA, 20-23 June (2005).

https://doi.org/10.1109/PLASMA.2005.359053

D.J. Stevenson. Metallic helium in massive planets. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 105, 11035 (2008).

https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0806430105

M. Preising, R. Redmer. Metallization of dense fluid helium from ab initio simulations. Phys. Rev. B 102, 224107 (2020).

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.224107

M. Preising, R. Redmer. Nonmetal-to-metal transition in dense fluid helium. Contrib. Plasma Phys. 61 (10), 1 (2021).

https://doi.org/10.1002/ctpp.202100105

V.T. Shvets. Equation of state of metallic helium. J. Exper. Theor. Phys. 116, 159 (2013).

https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063776113010159

M. Gell-Mann, K.A. Brueckner. Correlation energy of an electron gas at high density. Phys. Rev. 106, 363 (1957).

https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.106.364

D.J.M. Geldart, S.H. Vosko. The screening function of an interacting electron gas. Can. J. Phys. 44, 2137 (1966).

https://doi.org/10.1139/p66-174

V.T. Shvets. Green's Function Method in the Theory of Metals (Latstar, 2002) [ISBN: 966-8028-10-4] (in Ukrainian).

V.T. Shvets. Physics of Disordered Metals (Mayak, 2007) [ISBN: 966-587-163-6] (in Ukrainian).

L.-A. McFadden, P.R. Weissman, T.V. Johnson. Encyclopedia of the Solar System (Academic Press, 2007).

Published

2023-01-23

How to Cite

Shvets, V., & Cherevko, E. (2023). Nonlocal Pseudopotential and the Thermodynamics of Metallic Helium. Ukrainian Journal of Physics, 67(11), 790. https://doi.org/10.15407/ujpe67.11.790

Issue

Section

General physics

Most read articles by the same author(s)