Wave packet molecular dynamics simulations of deuterium in the region of laser shock-wave experiments

Recent laser shock-wave experiments by Da Silva et al. [1] with deuterium i n a regime where a plasma phase-transition has been predicted [6] are topic of many current discussions (e.g. [2, 3, 4, 5]). In this paper we apply "W ave Packet Molecular Dynamics" (WPMD) simulations to the equation of state of deuterium at constant hugoniot E - E-0 + 1/2 (V - V-0)(p + p(0)) = 0 and compare them with the experiments and several theoretical approaches. The WPMD method was originally used by Heller for a description of the scatteri ng of composite particles like simple atoms and molecules [7]; later it was applied to Coulomb systems by Klakow et al. [8, 9]. In the current version of our model the protons are treated as classical point-particles, whereas the electrons are represented by a completely anti-symmetrized Slater-sum of periodic Gaussian wavepackets.