Ab Initio Simulation of Warm Dense Matter: Combining Density Functional Theory and Linear Response Methods

Warm dense matter (WDM) is an extreme state of matter induced by extreme conditions and characterized as an intermediary state between (high-pressure) condensed matter and plasma. It has sparked a lot of attention in recent years as a result of current innovations in experiments and theoretical methods for modeling such complex systems. Such conditions naturally occur in astrophysical objects such as the interiors of the planets, and in white and brown dwarfs. WDM can be created in the laboratory via various methods such as laser compression, Z-pinches and heated diamond anvil cells. This thesis describes the results obtained for many such systems across a range of conditions modeled using ab-initio simulation methods. The first testbed concerns the electronic structure and linear response of the carbon phases under high-pressure and warm dense matter conditions. The focus is on modeling inelastic x-ray scattering spectra across a range of conditions useful for the analysis and interpretation of x-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS) experiments. Another major goal is to improve the existing models to compute static properties such as the equation of state, density of states with the inclusion of highly accurate data from quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations relevant at finite-temperatures. This approach improves the accuracy and is also computationally inexpensive compared to path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) methods. Lastly, improvements in linear response theory relevant for XRTS are incorporated with the inclusion of local field corrections (LFC) and finite-temperature local field corrections (T-LFC) using data from QMC simulations