Self-Consistent Relaxation Theory of Collective Ion Dynamics in Yukawa One-Component Plasmas under Intermediate Screening Regimes

TL;DR

This paper develops a self-consistent relaxation theory to describe collective ion dynamics in strongly coupled Yukawa plasmas, accurately predicting measurable properties without adjustable parameters and aligning with molecular dynamics results.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel self-consistent relaxation approach for collective ion dynamics in Yukawa plasmas under intermediate screening, linking structure and thermodynamics to dynamic behavior.

Findings

Accurately predicts dynamic structure factor and sound speed.

Shows agreement with molecular dynamics simulations.

Provides a parameter-free theoretical framework.

Abstract

The self-consistent relaxation theory is employed to describe the collective ion dynamics in strongly coupled Yukawa classical one-component plasmas. The theory is applied to equilibrium states corresponding to intermediate screening regimes with appropriate values of the structure and coupling parameters. The information about the structure (the radial distribution function and the static structure factor) and the thermodynamics of the system is sufficient to describe collective dynamics over a wide range of spatial ranges, namely, from the extended hydrodynamic to the microscopic dynamics scale. The main experimentally measurable characteristics of the equilibrium collective dynamics of ions -- the spectrum of the dynamic structure factor, the dispersion parameters, the speed of sound and the sound attenuation -- are determined within the framework of the theory without using any adjustable parameters. The results demonstrate agreement with molecular dynamics simulations. Thus a direct realization is presented of the key idea of statistical mechanics: for the theoretical description of the collective particle dynamics of equilibrium fluids it is sufficient to know the interparticle interaction potential and the structural characteristics. Comparison with alternative or complementary theoretical approaches is provided.