Recent Studies of the Classical Electron Gas

Abstract

Radial distribution functions are computed for classical particles interacting with Coulomb, shielded Coulomb, and truncated Coulomb forces. The methods used to obtain these distribution functions include the Percus—Yevick and convolution hypernetted‐chain‐integral equations, the Monte Carlo method, the the Debye—Hückel equation, and the perturbation methods of Lado and of Broyles and Sahlin. Comparisons between these methods indicate that for the Coulomb and the shielded Coulomb interactions the Debye—Hückel approximation is quite good for values of θ>3.0; θ=kTa/q², where a is the ion‐sphere radius. For values of θ<1.0 the error in the Debye—Hückel approximation increases rapidly with decreasing θ. The Lado perturbation equation is an improvement over that of Broyles and Sahlin for small separation distances. The solutions obtained cover a range in θ from 0.4 to 20.0.