Warm dense matter

Warm dense matter, abbreviated WDM, is the non-equilibrium state of matter between a solid and a plasma. It can be defined as the state that is too dense to be described by weakly-coupled plasma physics yet that is too energetic to be described by condensed matter physics. In this state, the potential energy of the interaction between electrons and nuclei and the kinetic energy of electrons are of roughly the same magnitude. WDM has a density of the same order as a solid and a temperature of a few tens of thousands of kelvins (or a few eV in the units favored by practitioners).

WDM is expected in the cores of some large planets, inertial fusion energy implosions driven by X-rays, and other systems that start as solids and are heated to become plasmas. [http://www-ssrl.slac.stanford.edu/lcls/talks/rlee_wdm_100400.pdf] The latter two categories imply that WDM physics are also relevant to nuclear explosions. Warm Dense Matter is also created during intense laser-target interactions [http://hifweb.lbl.gov/public/AcceleratorWDM/proceedings/1.Wednesday.Feb.22/am11.40.D.Lee.pdf] and particle beam-target interactions. [ [http://ilsa.llnl.gov/wdm/ Accelerator Driven Warm Dense Matter Workshop ] ]

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