In dusty (complex) plasmas, containing mesoscopic charged grains, the grain-grain interaction in many cases can be well described through a Yukawa potential. In this Review we summarize the basics of the computational and theoretical approaches capable of describing many-particle Yukawa systems in the liquid and solid phases and discuss the properties of the dynamical density and current correlation spectra of three- and two-dimensional strongly coupled Yukawa systems, generated by molecular dynamics simulations. We show details of the $ω(k)$ dispersion relations for the collective excitations in these systems, as obtained theoretically following the quasilocalized charge approximation, as well as from the fluctuation spectra created by simulations. The theoretical and simulation results are also compared with those obtained in complex plasma experiments.
Thermally excited phonon spectra of 2D Yukawa solids and liquids in the presence of an external magnetic field are studied using computer simulations. Special attention is paid to the variation of wave spectra in terms of several key parameters, such as the strength of coupling, the screening parameter, and the intensity of the magnetic field. In addition, comparisons are made with several analytical theories, including random-phase approximation, quasi-localized charge approximation, and harmonic approximation, and the validity of those theories is discussed in the present context.
On the Relation Between Diffusion and Shear Viscosity in Two-Dimensional Magnetized Yukawa Liquids
Institute for Experimental and Theoretical Physics, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University（阿拉法比哈萨克国立大学实验与理论物理研究所）；Institute of Applied Sciences and IT（应用科学与信息技术研究所）
The excitation spectra of two-dimensional strongly coupled (liquid-like) Yukawa systems under the influence of a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane are found to sustain additional high-frequency modes at multiples of the magnetoplasmon. These modes are reminiscent of the well-known Bernstein modes but show a number of important differences due to the strong coupling of the particles.
The results of a recent fluid theory for the multipole modes of a Yukawa plasma in a spherical confinement [H. Kählert and M. Bonitz, Phys. Rev. E \textbf{82}, 036407 (2010)] are compared with molecular dynamics simulations and the exact $N$-particle eigenmodes in the crystalline phase. Simulations confirm the existence of high order modes found in cold fluid theory. We investigate the influence of screening, coupling and friction on the mode spectra in detail. Good agreement between theory and simulation is found for weak to moderate screening and low order modes. The relations between the br…
The emergence and vanishing of superdiffusion in quasi-two-dimensional Yukawa systems are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations. Using both the asymptotic behaviour of the mean-squared displacement of the particles and the long-time tail of the velocity autocorrelation function as indicators for superdiffusion, we confirm the existence of a transition from normal diffusion to superdiffusion in systems changing from a three-dimensional to a two-dimensional character. A connection between superdiffusion and dimensionality is established by the behaviour of the projected pair distributio…
We analyze via theoretical approaches and molecular dynamics simulations the collective mode structure of strongly coupled two-dimensional binary Yukawa systems, for selected density, mass and charge ratios, both in the liquid and crystalline solid phases. Theoretically, the liquid phase is described through the Quasi-Localized Charge Approximation (QLCA) approach, while in the crystalline phase we study the centered honeycomb and the staggered rectangular crystal structures through the standard harmonic phonon approximation. We identify "longitudinal" and "transverse" acoustic and optic modes…
The longitudinal viscosity $η_l$ is obtained for a two-dimensional (2D) liquid using a Green-Kubo method with a molecular dynamics simulation. The interparticle potential used has the Debye-Hückel or Yukawa form, which models a 2D dusty plasma. The longitudinal $η_l$ and shear $η_s$ viscosities are found to have values that match very closely, with only negligible differences for the entire range of temperatures that is considered. The bulk viscosity $η_b$ is determined to be either negligibly small or not a meaningful transport coefficient, for a 2D Yukawa liquid.
The thermodynamic and structural properties of two dimensional dense Yukawa liquids are studied with molecular dynamics simulations. The "exact" thermodynamic properties are simultaneously employed in an advanced scheme for the determination of an equation of state that shows an unprecedented level of accuracy for the internal energy, pressure and isothermal compressibility. The "exact" structural properties are utilized to formulate a novel empirical correction to the hypernetted-chain approach that leads to a very high accuracy level in terms of static correlations and thermodynamics.
We investigate Fickian diffusion in two-dimensional (2D) Yukawa liquids using molecular dynamics simulations. We compute the self-van Hove correlation function $G_s(r,t)$, and the self-intermediate scattering function $F_s(k,t)$ and compare these functions with those obtained from mean-squared displacement MSD using the Gaussian approximation. According to this approximation, a linear MSD with time implies a Gaussian behavior for $G_s(r,t)$ and $F_s(k,t)$ at all times. Surprisingly, we find that these functions deviate from Gaussian at intermediate time scales, indicating the failure of the Ga…
There have recently been many predictions of "superdiffusion" in two-dimensional strongly coupled Yukawa systems, both by computer simulations and in dusty plasma experiments, with substantially varying diffusion exponents. Here we show that the results crucially depend on the strength of dissipation and the time instant of the measurement. For sufficiently large friction even subdiffusion is possible. However, there are strong indications that, in the long-time limit, anomalous diffusion vanishes for dissipative as well as for frictionless systems.
We compute linear and quadratic static density response functions of three-dimensional Yukawa liquids by applying an external perturbation potential in molecular dynamics simulations. The response functions are also obtained from the equilibrium fluctuations (static structure factors) in the system via the fluctuation-dissipation theorems. The good agreement of the quadratic response functions, obtained in the two different ways confirms the quadratic fluctuation-dissipation theorem. We also find that the three-point structure function may be factorizable into two-point structure functions, le…
Different advanced bridge function closures are utilized to investigate the structural and thermodynamic properties of dense Yukawa one-component plasma liquids within the framework of integral equation theory. The isomorph-based empirically modified hypernetted-chain, the variational modified hypernetted-chain, the Rogers-Young and the Ballone-Pastore-Galli-Gazzillo approaches are compared at the level of thermodynamic properties, radial distribution functions and bridge functions. The comparison, based on accuracy and computational speed, concludes that the two modified hypernetted-chain app…
We investigate the effect of an external magnetic field on the velocity autocorrelation function and the "caging" of the particles in a two-dimensional strongly coupled Yukawa liquid, via numerical simulations. The influence of the coupling strength on the position of the dominant peak in the frequency spectrum of the velocity autocorrelation function confirms the onset of a joint effect of the magnetic field and strong correlations at high coupling. Our molecular dynamics simulations quantify the decorrelation of the particles' surroundings - the magnetic field is found to increase significan…
The self-consistent relaxation theory is employed to describe the collective ion dynamics in strongly coupled Yukawa classical one-component plasmas. The theory is applied to equilibrium states corresponding to intermediate screening regimes with appropriate values of the structure and coupling parameters. The information about the structure (the radial distribution function and the static structure factor) and the thermodynamics of the system is sufficient to describe collective dynamics over a wide range of spatial ranges, namely, from the extended hydrodynamic to the microscopic dynamics sc…
We derive an effective coupling parameter for two-dimensional Yukawa systems based on the height of the first maximum of the pair distribution function. Two variants -- one valid in the high-coupling range, the other for arbitrary couplings of the liquid -- are derived. Comparison to previous approaches to Yukawa coupling parameters shows that the present concept is more general and more accurate. Using, in addition, dynamical information contained in the velocity autocorrelation function, we outline a reference data method that can be employed as a non-invasive measurement scheme of the plasm…
We investigate via Molecular Dynamics simulations the propagation of solitons in a two-dimensional many-body system characterized by Yukawa interaction potential. The solitons are created in an equilibrated system by the application of electric field pulses. Such pulses generate pairs of solitons, which are characterized by a positive and negative density peak, respectively, and which propagate into opposite directions. At small perturbation, the features propagate with the longitudinal sound speed, form which an increasing deviation is found at higher density perturbations. An external magnet…
It is well known that two-dimensional macroscale shear flows are susceptible to instabilities leading to macroscale vortical structures. The linear and nonlinear fate of such a macroscale flow in a strongly coupled medium is a fundamental problem. A popular example of a strongly coupled medium is a dusty plasma, often modelled as a Yukawa liquid. Recently, laboratory experiments and MD studies of shear flows in strongly coupled Yukawa liquids, indicated occurrence of strong molecular shear heating, which is found to reduce the coupling strength exponentially leading to destruction of macroscal…
The equilibrium structure and the dispersion relations of collective excitations in trilayer Yukawa systems in the strongly coupled liquid regime are examined. The equilibrium correlations reveal a variety of structures in the liquid phase, reminiscent of the corresponding structures in the solid phase. At small layer separation substitutional disorder becomes the governing feature. Theoretical dispersion relations are obtained by applying the Quasi-Localised Charge Approximation (QLCA) formalism, while numerical data are generated by micro-canonical molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The di…
In many-body systems the convolution approximation states that the 3-point static structure function, $S^{(3)}(\textbf{k}_{1},\textbf{k}_{2})$, can approximately be "factorized" in terms of the 2-point counterpart, $S^{(2)}(\textbf{k}_{1})$. We investigate the validity of this approximation in 3-dimensional strongly-coupled Yukawa liquids: the factorization is tested for specific arrangements of the wave vectors $\textbf{k}_{1}$ and $\textbf{k}_{2}$, with molecular dynamics simulations. With the increase of the coupling parameter we find a breakdown of factorization, of which a notable example…
A concise overview of the vibrational model of heat transfer in simple fluids with soft pairwise interactions is presented. The model is applied to evaluate the thermal conductivity coefficient of the strongly coupled Yukawa fluid, which often serves as a simplest model of a real liquid-like dusty (complex) plasma. A reasonable agreement with the available data from molecular dynamics numerical simulations is observed. Universality of the properly reduced thermal conductivity coefficient with respect to the effective coupling parameter is examined. Relations between the vibrational model and t…
We report accurate molecular dynamics calculations of the shear stress relaxation in a two-dimensional strongly coupled Yukawa liquid over a wide range of the Coulomb coupling strength $Γ$ and the Debye screening parameter $κ$. Our data on the relaxation times of the ideal- , excess- and total shear stress auto-correlation ($τ^{id}_M, τ^{ex}_M, τ_M$ respectively) along with the lifetime of local atomic connectivity $τ_{LC}$ leads us to the following important observation. Below a certain crossover $Γ_c(κ)$, $τ_{LC} \rightarrow τ^{ex}_M$, directly implying that here $τ_{LC}$ is the microscopic …
We investigate the origin of the violation of the Stokes-Einstein (SE) relation in two-dimensional Yukawa liquids. Using comprehensive molecular dynamics simulations, we identify the time scales supporting the violation of the SE relation $D\propto (η/T)^{-1}$, where $D$ is the self-diffusion coefficient and $η$ is the shear viscosity. We first compute the self-intermediate scattering function $F_s(k,t)$, the non-Gaussian parameter $α_2$, and the autocorrelation function of the shear stress $C_η(t)$. The timescales obtained from these functions are included the structural relaxation time $τ_α$…
Stochastic transport of a two-dimensional (2D) dusty plasma liquid with a perpendicular magnetic field is studied. Superdiffusion, which is a type of non-Fickian transport, is found to occur especially at higher magnetic fields with $β$ of order unity. Here, $β= ω_c / ω_{pd}$ is the ratio of the cyclotron and plasma frequencies for dust particles. The mean-square displacement ${\rm {MSD}} = 4 D_αt^α$ is found to have an exponent $α> 1$, indicating superdiffusion, with $α$ increasing monotonically to $1.1$ as $β$ increases to unity. The 2D Langevin molecular dynamics simulation used here also r…
Simulations are reported to investigate solid superheating and liquid supercooling of two-dimensional (2D) systems with a Yukawa interparticle potential. Motivated by experiments where a dusty plasma is heated and then cooled suddenly, we track particle motion using a simulation with Langevin dynamics. Hysteresis is observed when the temperature is varied rapidly in a heating and cooling cycle. As in the experiment, transient solid superheating, but not liquid supercooling, is observed. Solid superheating, which is characterized by solid structure above the melting point, is found to be promot…
An analysis of superdiffusion in two-dimensional strongly correlated Yukawa liquids is presented. In particular, we report a regular, montonic behavior of the diffusion exponent on the screening parameter.
Isomorph theory is employed in order to establish a mapping between the bridge function of Coulomb and Yukawa one-component plasmas. Within an exact invariance ansatz for the bridge functions and by capitalizing on the availability of simulation-extracted Coulomb bridge functions, an analytical Yukawa bridge function is derived which is inserted into the integral theory framework. In spite of its simplicity and computational speed, the proposed integral approach exhibits an excellent agreement with computer simulations of dense Yukawa liquids without invoking adjustable parameters.
A vibrational model of heat conduction in liquids with soft pairwise interactions is applied to estimate the thermal conductivity coefficient of strongly coupled Yukawa fluids. A reasonable agreement with the available data from numerical simulations is observed. The results can be useful in the context of strongly coupled plasma and complex (dusty) plasma fluids, when Yukawa (or screened Coulomb) interaction potential is applicable.
We analyze the acoustic collective excitations in two- and three-dimensional binary Yukawa systems, consisting of two components with different masses. Theoretical analysis reveals a profound difference between the weakly and strongly correlated limits: at weak coupling the two components interact via the mean field only and the oscillation frequency is governed by the light component. In the strongly correlated limit the mode frequency is governed by the combined mass, where the heavy component dominates. Computer simulations in the full coupling range extend and confirm the theoretical resul…
We perform Langevin dynamics simulations and use polygon construction method to investigate two-dimensional (2D) melting and freezing transitions in many-particle Yukawa systems. 2D melting transitions can be characterized as proliferation of geometrical defects - non-triangular polygons, obtained by removing unusually long bonds in the triangulation of particle positions. A 2D liquid is characterized by the temperature-independent number of quadrilaterals and linearly increasing number of pentagons. We analyze specific types of vertices, classified by the type and distribution of polygons sur…
In this paper we compare different theoretical approaches to describe the dispersion of collective modes in Yukawa fluids when the inter-particle coupling is relatively weak, so that kinetic and potential contributions to the dispersion relation compete. Thorough comparison with the results from molecular dymamics simulation allows us to conclude that in the regime investigated the best description is provided by the sum of the generalized excess bulk modulus and the Bohm-Gross kinetic term.
We have analyzed the Vlasov dispersion relation for Yukawa plasmas in three and two dimensions primarily for the purpose of identifying coupling parameter domains where the existence of well-developed collective excitations is forbidden or allowed. First, we have established a rigorous lower bound for the coupling parameter, below which there can be no real solution to the dispersion relation. In the coupling domain where weakly damped solutions do exist, we have focused on the long-wavelength acoustic regime where we have established more restrictive lower-bound estimates of the coupling para…
We analyze the Vlasov dispersion relation for Yukawa plasmas in three dimensions for the purpose of identifying coupling parameter domains where the Vlasov approach is justified and the existence of a well-developed RPA type collective excitation is allowed. We establish a rigorous lower bound for the coupling parameter, below which there can be no real solution to the Vlasov dispersion relation. In the coupling domain, where weakly damped solutions do exist, we have focused on the long-wavelength acoustic regime where we establish more restrictive estimates for the lower bound of the coupling…
Observations made in dusty plasma experiments suggest that an ensemble of electrically charged solid particles, confined in an elongated trap, develops structural inhomogeneities. With narrowing the trap the particles tend to form layers oriented parallel with the trap walls. In this work we present theoretical and numerical results on the structure of three-dimensional many-particle systems with screened Coulomb (Yukawa) inter-particle interaction in the strongly coupled liquid phase, confined in one-dimensional harmonic trap, forming quasi-2D configurations. Particle density profiles are cal…
A many-body system of charged particles interacting via a pairwise Yukawa potential, the so-called Yukawa One Component Plasma (YOCP) is a good approximation for a variety of physical systems. Such systems are completely characterized by two parameters; the screening parameter, $κ$, and the nominal coupling strength, $Γ$. It is well known that the collective spectrum of the YOCP is governed by a longitudinal acoustic mode, both in the weakly and strongly coupled regimes. In the long-wavelength limit the linear term in the dispersion (\textit{i.e.} $ω= s k$) defines the sound speed $s$. We stud…
Bridge functions, the missing link in the exact description of strong correlations, are indirectly extracted from specially designed molecular dynamics simulations of classical one-component plasma liquids and accurately parameterized. Their incorporation into an advanced integral equation theory description of Yukawa one-component plasma liquids and a novel dielectric formalism scheme for quantum one-component plasma liquids leads to an unprecedented agreement with available molecular dynamics simulations and new ab initio path integral Monte Carlo simulations, respectively.
A simple practical approach to describe transverse (shear) waves in strongly-coupled Yukawa fluids is presented. Theoretical dispersion curves, based on hydrodynamic consideration, are shown to compare favorably with existing numerical results for plasma-related systems in the long-wavelength regime. The existence of a minimum wave number below which shear waves cannot propagate and its magnitude are properly accounted in the approach. The relevance of the approach beyond plasma-related Yukawa fluids is demonstrated by using experimental data on transverse excitations in liquid metals Fe, Cu, …
