Phase coexistence and a critical point in ultracold neutral plasmas

Shukla, P. K. ; Avinash, K. (2011) Phase coexistence and a critical point in ultracold neutral plasmas Physical Review Letters, 107 (13). Article ID 135002. ISSN 0031-9007

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Official URL: http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysR...

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.135002

Abstract

We show the existence of the liquid-vapor phase coexistence and a critical point for strongly coupled ions in ultracold neutral (UCN) plasmas. Expressions for the free energy of UCN plasmas and an equation of state for the ions are obtained in the mean field approximation. A van der Waals-like isotherm shows the existence of a critical point in UCN plasmas. Depending on the ion temperature, the ions are shown to exist in a mixed vapor-liquid phase for a range of the ion Coulomb coupling parameter Γi (defined by the ratio between the ion interaction and the ion kinetic energies), and in a strongly coupled liquid state for values of Γi above this range. The estimates of critical constants show that it may be possible to observe these phenomena in the present day UCN plasmas.

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Source:Copyright of this article belongs to American Physical Society.
ID Code:102846
Deposited On:09 Mar 2018 10:43
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