Plasma-Plasma and Liquid-Liquid First-Order Phase Transitions

Ab initio quantum modeling is applied to check the ideas that motivated studies of both plasma phase transition (PPT) and Brazhkin semiconductor‐to‐metal phase transition, and to analyze both similarity and difference between them as well as with the Wigner metallization. Electron density of states and the characteristic gap in it are investigated to verify the semiconductor‐to‐metal nature of the transition. The change of plasma frequency is suggested to be used instead of the “degree of ionization” to characterize the difference between two plasma phases at PPT. Electron density of states, pair distribution function, and conductivity are calculated as well. It is shown that Norman‐Starostin ideas about (a) PPT and (b) phase diagram for fluids are not anymore a hypothesis. They are confirmed by the experimental data. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)