Strong screening in the plum pudding model

A. D. Chepelianskii 1, F. Closa 2, E. Raphael 2, E. Trizac 3

Europhysics Letters (EPL) 94 (2011) 68010

We study a generalized Thomson problem that appears in several condensed matter settings: identical point-charge particles can penetrate inside a homogeneously charged sphere, with global electro-neutrality. The emphasis is on scaling laws at large Coulombic couplings, and deviations from mean-field behaviour, by a combination of Monte Carlo simulations and an analytical treatment within a quasi-localized charge approximation, which provides reliable predictions. We also uncover a local overcharging phenomenon driven by ionic correlations alone.

  • 1. Laboratoire de Physique des Solides (LPS),
    CNRS : UMR8502 – Université Paris XI – Paris Sud
  • 2. Gulliver, UMR CNRS 7083,
    ESPCI ParisTech
  • 3. Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modèles Statistiques (LPTMS),
    CNRS : UMR8626 – Université Paris XI – Paris Sud
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