ABSENCE OF EXPONENTIAL SCREENING IN QUANTUM MECHANICAL PLASMAS

Abstract

This chapter presents evidence that the equilibrium correlations of quantum mechanical charges do not cluster exponentially fast, irrespective of the value of the density and of the temperature. Thus, the Debye screening does not exist in real matter. The evidence for the absence of exponential screening rely on the following two approaches. In a study described in the chapter, the large-distance behavior of the quantum corrections to the classical correlations for both an OCP and a multicomponent system described by Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics was investigated. This investigation gives algebraic lower bounds for the decay of the quantum correlations (for instance, the particle-particle correlations should not decay faster than 1/r 6 in a multicomponent system). A simplified model was also studied where only two quantum charges are immersed in a classical plasma. The exact asymptotic behavior of the correlations of these two charges was determined, which was found as 1/r 6 when r → ∞.