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Thermal conduction in strongly coupled plasmas: especially liquid alkali metals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1997

N. H. MARCH
Affiliation:
Permanent address: University of Oxford, UK. Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia and Classe di Scienze, Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, I-56126 Pisa, Italy
M. P. TOSI
Affiliation:
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia and Classe di Scienze, Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, I-56126 Pisa, Italy

Abstract

In earlier work, we have noted on semi-empirical grounds that the electrical conductivity σ in strongly coupled plasmas can be written as a linear form σ=σ0Γ in terms of the usual plasma coupling parameter Γ. Here, this is combined with the Wiedemann–Franz law to yield a zeroth-order treatment of thermal conductivity κ in such strongly coupled plasmas. Some refinement is needed to explain the properties of the heavier liquid alkali metals beginning with Na. This refinement follows from the nearly free-electron theory of electrical resistivity ρ=σ−1. Finally, a relation is forged between ρ, κ and the shear viscosity η at the freezing point of liquid alkali metals.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1997 Cambridge University Press

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