Correlation effects on the temperature-relaxation rates in dense plasmas.

We present a model for the rate of temperature relaxation between electrons and ions in plasmas. The model includes self-consistently the effects of particle screening, electron degeneracy, and correlations between electrons and ions. We successfully validate the model over a wide range of plasma coupling against molecular-dynamics simulations of classical plasmas of like-charged electrons and ions. We present calculations of the relaxation rates in dense hydrogen and show that, while electron-ion correlation effects are indispensable in classical, like-charged plasmas at any density and temperature, quantum diffraction effects prevail over electron-ion correlation effects in dense hydrogen plasmas.