Pair correlation functions of strongly coupled two-temperature plasma

Abstract

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we perform the first direct tests of three proposed models for the pair correlation functions of strongly coupled plasmas with species of unequal temperature. The models are all extensions of the Ornstein–Zernike/hypernetted-chain theory used to good success for equilibrium plasmas. Each theory is evaluated at several coupling strengths, temperature ratios, and mass ratios for a model plasma in which the electrons are positively charged. We show that the model proposed by Seuferling et al. [Phys. Rev. A 40, 323 (1989)] agrees well with molecular dynamics over a wide range of mass and temperature ratios, as well as over a range of coupling strength similar to that of the equilibrium hypernetted-chain (HNC) theory. The SVT model also correctly predicts the strength of interspecies correlations and exhibits physically reasonable long-wavelength limits of the static structure factors. Comparisons of the SVT model with the Yukawa one-component plasma (YOCP) model are used to show that ion-ion pair correlations are well described by the YOCP model up to Γe≈1, beyond which it rapidly breaks down.