Electron heat transport in a proton–electron system for various coupling regimes using particle-in-cell and classical molecular dynamics methods

Abstract Particle-in-cell and reverse non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations are employed to estimate the electron thermal conductivity in a two-component plasma (TCP) consisting of electrons and protons. Simulations are performed over a range of Coulomb coupling parameters <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>0.02</mml:mn> <mml:mtext>⩽</mml:mtext> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Γ</mml:mi> <mml:mtext>⩽</mml:mtext> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> . For weakly coupled regimes ( <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">Γ</mml:mi> <mml:mo>&lt;</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.1</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> the results show good agreement with the Landau–Spitzer and Lee–More models. Comparison with a one-component plasma, in which electrons are mobile and protons form a neutralizing background, reveals a systematic decrease of the electron thermal conductivity in the TCP. This reduction highlights the impact of ion interactions on electron heat transport.