Electron and nuclear pressures in electron-nucleus mixtures

TL;DR

This paper clarifies the definitions of electron and nuclear pressures in electron-nucleus mixtures using the virial theorem, showing the conventional electron pressure definition is inappropriate and deriving a new equation of state for liquid metals.

Contribution

It introduces a clear and simple definition of electron and nuclear pressures in mixtures, correcting conventional approaches and deriving a new equation of state for liquid metals.

Findings

Electron and nuclear pressures are both zero simultaneously in a metal in vacuum.

The conventional electron pressure definition is shown to be inappropriate.

A new simple equation of state for liquid metals is derived and numerically examined.

Abstract

It is shown for an electron-nucleus mixture that the electron and nuclear pressures are defined clearly and simply by the virial theorem; the total pressure of this system is a sum of these two pressures. The electron pressure is different from the conventional electron pressure being expressed as the sum of two times of kinetic energy and the potential energy in that the nuclear virial term is subtracted; this fact is exemplified by several kinds of definitions for the electron pressure enumerated in this work. The conventional definition of the electron pressure in terms of the nuclear virial term is shown inappropriate. Similar remarks are made about the definition of the stress tensor in this mixture. It is also demonstrated that both of the electron and nuclear pressures become zero at the same time for a metal in the vacuum, in contrast to the conventional viewpoint that the zero pressure is realized by a result of the cancellation between the electron and nuclear pressures, each of which is not zero. On the basis of these facts, a simple equation of states for liquid metals is derived, and examined numerically for liquid alkaline metals by use of the quantum hypernetted chain equation and the Ashcroft model potential.