Physical Concepts and Exact Results

Abstract

One of the simplest Coulomb systems which already shows all the qualitative effects of interest is the two-component charge-symmetrical system consisting of N _e electrons with the charge (−e) and N _i positive ions with the charge (+e); the masses are m _e and m _i respectively. We note that in some respect the unsymmetrical pseudo-one-component plasma (OCP), where one of the charged species is uniformly distributed over the space, is in some respect even still more simple and represents a very useful model system (Baus and Hansen, 1980; Ichimaru, 1982). However since we are also interested here in bound states which do not exist in the OCP we prefer to start here from a charge-symmetrical system, the particles of which obey Fermi statistics. The most simple representatives of this kind of systems are the electron-positron plasmas or special electron-hole plasmas where the masses of electrons and ions are equal, i.e. m _i = m _e. More important are of course plasmas with certain asymmetry with respect to the masses m _i ≫ m _e. Of special importance are hydrogen plasmas (H-plasmas) with m _i = 1836. 3 m _e. We know that a large part of our metagalaxis consists of hydrogen in the plasma state. Furthermore we may think about charge-symmetrical alkali plasmas or noble gas plasmas. However, in this case the Coulomb potential has to be modified (pseudopotential). The charged particles are considered in the following as nonrelativistic points with the masses m _e and m _i, respectively, which are moving according to the laws of quantum mechanics. Short range interaction effects as well as radiation effects are not taken into account.