Electron-electron pair correlation function in solid and molten nearly-free electron metals

Abstract

Scattering experiments on molten metals now afford the possibility of extracting valence electron correlation functions. Therefore, the theory of the pair correlation function between valence electrons in the presence of a weak electron-ion interaction nu ie is developed by the present authors. To obtain explicit results to second-order in nu ie. Two different approaches have been used: (i) diagrammatic analysis and (ii) density functional theory, in which the change in the electron-electron pair correlation function from its value in jellium is expressed in terms of the electron density change, for a fixed configuration of ions. While the theory is applicable both to crystalline and molten nearly-free electron metals, the theory has been pushed through further for liquid metals, and in particular the most extensive numerical results have been obtained for liquid Na.