Eur. Phys. J. E 1, 67-73
One and two-component hard-core plasmas
R.R. Netz1 - H. Orland2
1 Max-Planck-Institut für Kolloid-und Grenzflächenforschung, Am Mühlenberg, 14424
Potsdam, Germany
2 Service de Physique Théorique, CEA-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
orland@spht.saclay.cea.fr
Received 16 February 1999 and Received in final form 19 July 1999
Abstract
A field theory is presented for particles
which interact via Coulomb and hard-core potentials,
as relevant for classical plasmas, electrolytes, and charged colloidal
solutions.
We apply the method to the one-component plasma
with hard cores (OCPHC), consisting of
identical particles of fixed charge and diameter in
a neutralizing background, and the symmetric two-component
plasma with hard cores (TCPHC),
consisting of equal numbers of positively and negatively
charged particles of identical size. We obtain the
first few coefficients of a systematic low-density
expansion of the free energy for both models exactly
and in closed form.
The OCPHC coefficients go over to
the classical Abe result in the high-charge
(or small hard-core diameter) limit.
The TCPHC, on the
other hand, exhibits diverging coefficients in the
high-charge limit, which is due to the formation of
strongly bound ion-pairs.
PACS
82.70.-y Disperse systems -
52.25.-b Plasma properties -
61.20.Qg Structure of associated liquids: electrolytes, molten salts, etc.
Copyright EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag
