Electrical conductivity of materials under extreme conditions using TDDFT

Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) enables calculating electronic transport properties in warm dense matter (WDM) and is an alternative to present state-of-the-art approaches. In TDDFT, the electrical conductivity is computed from the time evolution of the electronic current density and provides direct means to assess the validity of Ohm's law in WDM. We present TDDFT calculations of the electrical conductivity, for example in iron within the pressure and temperature range found in Earth's core. We discuss the ramifications of using TDDFT for calculating the electrical conductivity in contrast to the Kubo-Greenwood formalism and dielectric models.