LAUSR

Superdense plasmas widely exist in planetary interiors and astrophysical objects such as brown-dwarf cores and white dwarfs. How atoms behave under such extreme-density conditions is not yet well understood, even in single-species plasmas. Here, we apply thermal density functional theory to investigate the radiation spectra of superdense iron–zinc plasma mixtures at mass densities of ρ = 250 to 2000 g cm −3 and temperatures of kT = 50 to 100 eV, accessible by double-shell–target implosions. Our ab initio calculations reveal two extreme atomic-physics phenomena—firstly, an interspecies radiative transition; and, secondly, the breaking down of the dipole-selection rule for radiative transitions in isolated atoms. Our first-principles calculations predict that for superdense plasma mixtures, both interatomic radiative transitions and dipole-forbidden transitions can become comparable to the normal intra-atomic K α -emission signal. These physics phenomena were not previously considered in detail for extreme high-density plasma mixtures at super-high energy densities. Matter at extremely high density and pressure behaves differently than at ambient conditions. Here the authors use first-principles calculations to show the existence of interspecies radiative and dipole-forbidden transitions in warm and superdense plasma mixture of iron and zinc.