On the stability of a classical plasma

•Ion-ion interaction potentials are derived for a classical plasma.•Total energy of a classical plasma is computed.•Solid phase occurs for a classical plasma.•The precursory liquid phase is identified and a van der Waals equation is established for a classical plasma. A linearized self-consistent va...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics letters. A 2019-06, Vol.383 (16), p.1831-1835
Main Authors: Apostol, M., Cune, L.C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Classical plasma
Condensed phases
Debye-Huckel screening
Solid phase
Variational approach
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Summary:•Ion-ion interaction potentials are derived for a classical plasma.•Total energy of a classical plasma is computed.•Solid phase occurs for a classical plasma.•The precursory liquid phase is identified and a van der Waals equation is established for a classical plasma. A linearized self-consistent variational approach is employed to investigate the (thermodynamic) stability of a classical plasma (electrons and positive ions). It is shown, by using this approach, that a classical plasma, which consists of ions “dressed” with electrons, has a well-defined thermodynamics. In the strong-coupling regime the “plasma” is a solid, while, on passing to the weak-coupling regime, it becomes gradually a liquid, a non-ideal gas, and, finally, in the weak-coupling limit, it behaves as an ideal classical gas. A van der Waals-type equation is established for the plasma non-ideal gas.
ISSN:0375-9601
1873-2429
DOI:10.1016/j.physleta.2019.03.018