A theory of the screening in the liquid-vapour interface of simple metals: calculations of the surface tension and density profiles of the liquid alkali metals and Mg

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Abstract
In the paper the author presents a simple theory for the liquid-vapour interface of simple metals. The present theory is based on the efficient perturbation theory and the variational method developed for the thermodynamic properties of inhomogeneous liquid metals. In this approach the Helmholtz free energy is formally written as the sum of the total electrostatic energy, the non-Coulombic part of the free energy of an electron jellium, the entropy of a classical one-component plasma (OCP) used as the reference system, the Madelung energy and the electron-ion coupling terms to second order in the pseudopotential. Using this expression for the free energy, he proposes a very simple method of treating screening in inhomogeneous liquid metals. The author obtains a simple expression for the free energy of an inhomogenous liquid metal, which is ready for applications to surfaces. He has applied the formulation to the liquid-vapour interface and performed variational calculations for the surface properties of the alkali metals and Mg.