Publications Repository - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

The numerical modeling of plasmon behavior is crucial for an accurate interpretation of inelastic scattering diagnostics in many experiments. We highlight the utility of linear-response time-dependent density functional theory (LR-TDDFT) as an appropriate first-principles framework for a consistent modeling of plasmon properties. We provide a comprehensive analysis of plasmons from ambient throughout warm dense conditions and assess typical properties such as the dynamical structure factor, the plasmon dispersion, and the plasmon width. We compare them with experimental measurements in aluminum accessible via x-ray Thomson scattering and with other dielectric models such as the Lindhard model, the Mermin approach based on parametrized collision frequencies, and the dielectric function obtained using static local field corrections of the uniform electron gas parametrized from path integral Monte Carlo simulations both at the ground state and at finite temperature. We conclude with the remark that the common practice of extracting and employing plasmon dispersion relations and widths is an insufficient procedure to capture the complicated physics contained in the dynamic structure factor in its full breadth.