Knight shift and dielectric anomaly in fluid mercury

Abstract

The temperature and density coordinates for the $^{199}\mathrm{Hg}$ Knight shift in expanded liquid mercury have been redetermined using new vapor pressure and equation-of-state data. The drop of the Knight shift at the metal-nonmetal transition is now seen to be even sharper and to occur at slightly higher density than reported in the original work of El-Hanany and Warren. The point of vanishing Knight shift in the liquid (8.9 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.2 g ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$) coincides accurately with the occurrence of a "plasma transition" reported by Hefner and Hensel in the vapor when the two phases are in equilibrium.