Electrical Resistivity of Expanded Fluid Rubidium

Abstract

Abstract The problem of electronic transport in expanded alkali metals is explored in detail—with particular reference to rubidium. One objective is to assess the extent to which the self-consistent inclusion of a mean free path for electron-ion scattering into a formulation for electron transport, based upon the force-force correlation approach, could account for the observed resistivity of expanded liquid rubidium, at thermodynamic states near to the liquid-vapour coexistence curve. The results presented indicate that the self-consistent approach gives the same general trend with density as the traditional Bhatia-Krishnan-Ziman formula. Though the latter gives quantitatively better agreement with experiment, both theories fail as the critical point is approached as they are weak scattering treatments. At higher densities the need for an accurate description of the large wave number components of the pseudopotential emerges.