Temperature-dependent nonlinear screening of a proton in an electron gas

Abstract

Temperature-dependent local-density formalism is applied to the calculation of the screening density profile around a proton embedded in an electron gas. Characteristic quantities such as screening length, density at the proton site, and oscillations at low temperatures are studied. The total energy of the impurity and the entropy are computed and the existence of a bound state discussed. Comparisons are made with other linear and nonlinear theories, particularly the random-phase linear-response theory.