Hydrodynamic correlation functions for molten salts

Abstract

The linearized hydrodynamic equations for a binary ionic fluid, with specific reference to a dissociated molten salt, are used to evaluate correlation functions of local fluctuation variables and the corresponding response functions. Previous results for the instantaneous correlation functions are extended and connected with thermodynamic fluctuation theory. Different dynamical behaviours, depending on the relative magnitude of the relaxation frequency for charge fluctuations and the sound wave frequency, are demonstrated. When 4πσ/∊ > ck, charge fluctuations are uncoupled from mass fluctuations, the latter being isomorphous to those of a one-component neutral fluid. Kubo relations for the transport coefficients are derived in this regime. When 4πσ/∊ < ck, the behaviour of the ionic fluid becomes isomorphous to that of a neutral mixture, with electrical conduction playing a role analogous to interdiffusion and contributing, in particular, to the damping of sound waves. An interpolation formula between these two limiting behaviours of the relaxation frequencies is also derived. The consequences of these results for the light scattering spectrum of an ionic fluid are briefly discussed