Mean spherical approximation for a model liquid metal potential

Abstract

The solution of the Ornstein-Zernike equation for a direct correlation function c(x) with damped oscillations and a hard core condition imposed upon the total correlation function h(x) has been proposed by Cummings as a means of treating a simple model potential for liquid metals in the mean spherical approximation [1]. Here some numerical results are given for this model and their significance is discussed. The solution of the Ornstein-Zernike equation is also extended; the hard core condition is generalized to a soft core condition, and Yukawa terms are added to the oscillatory c(x). Ways in which these extensions can be incorporated into more accurate liquid metal models, as well as into more accurate approximations for these models, are discussed. Finally, it is shown that our solution of the Ornstein-Zernike equation, after a change in the core condition, yields the structure of a spin glass model considered by Høye and Stell in the MSA-like approximation they propose [22].