A Brief Introduction to Strongly Coupled Plasmas
and High Energy-Density Physics

Michael S. Murillo, T-15

An introduction to strongly coupled plasmas will be given that begins with the simple concept of Debye screening in a weakly coupled plasma.  This concept is built upon both theoretically and in terms of physical systems, such as white dwarfs, laser-cooled ions, and dusty plasmas, to show what is different and interesting about strongly coupled plasmas.  The notion of Wigner crystallization will be reviewed.  The focus will then shift towards dense plasmas that form an overlap between strongly coupled plasmas and the high energy-density regime, where pressures exceed one megabar.  Again, theoretical and experimental concepts will be briefly mentioned.  Finally, the importance of simulation methods will be addressed in the context of the Coulomb interaction, which causes most methods to carefully treat both divergent long-range and short-range forces.