Harmonic-lattice model for the internal energy of the classical one-component plasma fluid near the crystallization point

Through analyses of the Monte Carlo data on strongly coupled fluids such as the classical one-component plasma, we demonstrate that the excess internal energy $U$ may be expressed to a good degree of accuracy by a lattice-model formula, $\frac{U}{N{k}_{B}T}=\alpha \Gamma +\frac{3}{2}$, near the crystallization point, where $\Gamma$ is the coupling constant and $\alpha$ takes on a value close to the Madelung constant of the corresponding crystalline lattice.