Shukla-Eliasson Attractive Force: Revisited

TL;DR

This paper revisits the Shukla-Eliasson attractive force in Fermi-Dirac plasmas, confirming its presence in planetary interiors and its role in plasma crystallization, with implications for laser-matter interactions.

Contribution

It provides a revised analysis of the attractive force using generalized electron Fermi-momentum, confirming its existence and significance in plasma physics and planetary science.

Findings

Attractive force exists in planetary interior plasma densities.

The potential is sensitive to plasma density and composition.

Supports the role of the force in plasma crystallization.

Abstract

By investigation of the dielectric response of a Fermi-Dirac plasma in the linear limit and evaluation of the electrostatic potential around the positive stationary test charge, we find that the Shukla-Eliasson attractive force is present for the plasma density range expected in the interiors of large planets for a wide range of plasma atomic-number. This research which is based on the generalized electron Fermi-momentum further confirms the existence of the newly discovered Lennard-Jones-like attractive potential and its inevitable role in plasma crystallization in the cores of planets. Moreover, it is observed that the characteristics of the attractive potential is strongly sensitive to the variation of the plasma density and composition. Current research can also have applications in the study of strong laser-matter interactions and innertially confined plasmas.