Quantum kinetic theory for dense Coulomb systems in strong electromagnetic fields

TL;DR

This paper develops a quantum kinetic theory for dense Coulomb systems in strong, time-dependent electromagnetic fields, enabling analysis of nonlinear plasma heating and collision processes.

Contribution

It introduces a gauge-invariant nonequilibrium Green's functions approach for self-consistent treatment of dynamical screening and electromagnetic interactions in nonequilibrium dense plasmas.

Findings

Numerical results on nonlinear plasma heating by laser fields.

Analysis of electron-ion collision frequency including multi-photon absorption.

Demonstration of the theory's applicability to arbitrary nonequilibrium conditions.

Abstract

A quantum kinetic theory for correlated charged-particle systems in strong time-dependent electromagnetic fields is developed. Our approach is based on a systematic gauge-invariant nonequilibrium Green's functions formulation. We concentrate on the selfconsistent treatment of dynamical screening and electromagnetic fields which is applicable to arbitrary nonequilibrium situations. Numerical results for the nonlinear plasma heating by the laser field and the electron-ion collision frequency including multi-photon absorption (inverse bremsstrahlung) are presented.