Mean Force Kinetic Theory Calculations of Transport in High Energy Density Plasmas

Mean force kinetic theory is an approach to extend plasma kinetic theory into the strongly coupled regime. It is based on a new closure of the BBGKY hierarchy that expands about the deviations of correlations from their equilibrium values, rather than the strength of correlations. The model has been tested by computing transport coefficients for the hydrodynamic evolution of plasmas and comparing with molecular dynamics simulations and experimental results. The general finding is that the approach extends plasma theory to Coulomb coupling parameters less than 10. This talk will summarize recent results in applying the method to high energy density plasmas, including extensions of the classical physics-based model to also include partial degeneracy of electrons that is common in the warm dense matter regime. This is accomplished from an approach based on the Uehling-Uhlenbeck equation and a quantum generalization of the potential of mean force. Results will be shown for both ionic transport process such as diffusion and shear viscosity, as well as electron-ion scattering processes, such as electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and stopping power.