The Departmental Colloquium

The Saga of Coulombic Criticality: from Debye-Hückel to Ginzburg and Beyond

What is the nature of fluid criticality in an ionic system? Experiments on certain electrolytes pose puzzling theoretical challenges [1]. Progress to date will be described [1-6]. The "Sad Street of Simulation" will be visited. Simple theories based on the original Debye-Hückel treatement but suitable extended by ion pairing and solvation, provide the best current theoretical account [1-4]. Generalizing to nonuinform densities yeilds correlation functions [5] and enables the Ginzburg criterion to be formulated [6]. But mysteries remain and the plot thickens!

1. M.E. Fisher, J. Stat. Phys. 75, 1 (1994).
2. M.E. Fisher and Y. Levin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 71, 3826 (1993).
3. Y. Levin and M.E. Fisher, Physica A 225, 164 (1996).
4. Y. Levin, X.-J. Li and M.E. Fisher, Phys. Rev. Lett 73, 2716 (1994).
5. B.P. Lee and M.E. Fisher, Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 2906 (1996) & Europhys. Lett. 39, 611 (1997).
6. M.E. Fisher and B.P. Lee, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3561 (1996).

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