Generalized two-body self-consistent theory of random linear dielectric composites: an effective-medium approach to clustering in highly-disordered media

TL;DR

This paper develops a self-consistent effective-medium theory for random dielectric composites that incorporates many-body interactions and clustering effects, improving predictions of effective permittivity over traditional models.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized two-body self-consistent framework with adjustable parameters, extending the Bruggeman-Landauer scheme to account for complex many-body interactions in disordered media.

Findings

Theory agrees well with simulations across volume fractions

Handles many-body corrections in a multiple-scattering framework

Provides a sensitive indicator for deviations from classical models

Abstract

Effects of two-body dipolar interactions on the effective permittivity/conductivity of a binary, symmetric, random dielectric composite are investigated in a self-consistent framework. By arbitrarily splitting the singularity of the Green tensor of the electric field, we introduce an additional degree of freedom into the problem, in the form of an unknown "inner" depolarization constant. Two coupled self-consistent equations determine the latter and the permittivity in terms of the dielectric contrast and the volume fractions. One of them generalizes the usual Coherent Potential condition to many-body interactions between single-phase clusters of polarizable matter elements, while the other one determines the effective medium in which clusters are embedded. The latter is in general different from the overall permittivity. The proposed approach allows for many-body corrections to the Bruggeman-Landauer (BL) scheme to be handled in a multiple-scattering framework. Four parameters are used to adjust the degree of self-consistency and to characterize clusters in a schematic geometrical way. Given these parameters, the resulting theory is "exact" to second order in the volume fractions. For suitable parameter values, reasonable to excellent agreement is found between theory and simulations of random-resistor networks and pixelwise-disordered arrays in two and tree dimensions, over the whole range of volume fractions. Comparisons with simulation data are made using an "effective" scalar depolarization constant that constitutes a very sensitive indicator of deviations from the BL theory.