Electron-Ion Correlation in Liquid Sodium

Abstract

The structure factor of liquid sodium at 110°C has been determined by neutron diffraction with sufficient accuracy and compared with those obtained by X-ray diffraction. A small but clear difference in these structure factors has been found in the region \(Q{\lesssim}5\) A -1 , and these differences are apparently larger than the experimental errors. The ion-electron correlation function has been evaluated from this difference with the help of theoretical calculation of the electron-electron correlation function. The radial distribution function of valence electron around ions has been calculated by the Fourier transform of this function and the different features of the electron charge distribution from those in liquid polyvalent metals are also discussed.