Electrostatic energy of solid binary ionic mixtures

TL;DR

This paper calculates and compares the electrostatic energies of various ordered binary ionic mixtures in Coulomb crystal form, providing a unified approximation and extending existing literature, with implications for astrophysics and plasma applications.

Contribution

It introduces a unified equation for electrostatic energies of 15 ordered binary Coulomb crystals, extending prior results and including disordered mixtures.

Findings

Accurate electrostatic energy calculations for 15 binary bcc-like lattices.

Development of a unified approximation equation for these energies.

Comparison with previous linear mixing rule results and discussion of disordered mixtures.

Abstract

We study the electrostatic energy of binary ionic mixtures (BIMs) in the form of Coulomb crystals with the main focus on ordered crystals. We consider 15 different binary bcc-like lattices, accurately calculate their electrostatic energies and approximate them by a unified equation. These results extend those available in the literature. A detailed comparison with selected previous results is made, particularly, using previous calculations in the linear mixing rule approximation. The case of disordered BIMs is also outlined. The results are expected to be useful for exploring multi-component Coulomb systems in compact stars, laboratory plasmas, and technological applications.