Nuclear-motion corrections to the Thomas-Fermi equation of state for high-density matter

A modified Thomas-Fermi equation of state has been developed for description of materials at temperatures and pressures of interest in laser-fusion research. For high-density plasmas with $1<\mathrm{}\Gamma <100\mathrm{}$, nuclear motions give rise to ion-pair correlations intermediate between those of gas and solid. This pair correlation is approximately described by allowing the Thomas-Fermi ion-sphere volume to vary according to the isobaric distribution law. The resulting equation of state automatically includes corrections for nuclear motion. Numerical results are presented for 10 and 100 times solid density.