Electrostatic correlations: from plasma to biology

TLDR

Electrostatic correlations are pivotal across physics, chemistry, and biology, driving phenomena such as plasma thermodynamic instability, colloidal charge renormalization, charge inversion, flocculation, and the organization of cytoskeleton and genetic material. This review aims to examine the thermodynamic consequences of electrostatic correlations in diverse systems ranging from classical plasmas to molecular biology. The authors survey these effects across a spectrum of systems—including plasmas, colloidal suspensions, multivalent counterion solutions, and biological structures—to elucidate their roles in stability and organization.

Abstract

Electrostatic correlations play an important role in physics, chemistry and biology. In plasmas they result in thermodynamic instability similar to the liquid–gas phase transition of simple molecular fluids. For charged colloidal suspensions the electrostatic correlations are responsible for screening and colloidal charge renormalization. In aqueous solutions containing multivalent counterions they can lead to charge inversion and flocculation. In biological systems the correlations account for the organization of cytoskeleton and the compaction of genetic material. In spite of their ubiquity, the true importance of electrostatic correlations has come to be fully appreciated only quite recently. In this paper, we will review the thermodynamic consequences of electrostatic correlations in a variety of systems ranging from classical plasmas to molecular biology.