On the properties of inhomogeneous charged systems

Abstract

We give a proof and an extension of equations previously derived by Wertheim and Lovett, Mou and Buff, relating the gradient of the density to an integral of the external force over the pair correlation function; when the system has boundaries it also involves a surface contribution. These equations are derived and used for systems which may contain free charges, dipoles, and a rigid background (jellium). In particular, we derive an equation for the density profile near a plane electrode and we show that the correlation function has to decay no faster than |χ|-N (N=space dimension) parallel to the electode. © 1983 American Institute of Physics.