Short-distance properties of Coulomb systems

Abstract

We use the operator product expansion to derive exact results for the momentum distribution and the static structure factor at high momentum for a jellium model of electrons in both two and three dimensions. It is shown that independent of the precise state of the Coulomb system and for arbitrary temperatures, the asymptotic behavior is a power law in the momentum, whose strength is determined by the contact value of the pair distribution function $g(0)$. The power-law tails are quantum effects which vanish in the classical limit $\ensuremath{\hbar}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}0$. A leading-order virial expansion shows that the classical and the high-temperature limit do not agree.