Calculation of the small and large angle structure factors of some simple liquid metals

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Abstract
Electron and liquid state theory are combined to give fairly satisfactory accounts of the high and low argument behaviours of the structure factors of liquid Al and Mg near melting. The pseudo-atom cores are responsible for the former while the tails are also required for the latter. In the forward scattering limit, a value of about 0.025 is to be expected on the basis of a zeroth order description of 45% hard-sphere packing and there are two competing effects which might a priori change this result. One is an enhanced effective diameter corresponding to the less energetic collisions appropriate to small q; this leads to reduced forward scattering. The other is the character of the tail which is oscillatory; the authors find it to be attractive in its overall effect and therefore tending to increase the forward limit. In the case of Al the first effect wins and there is a suppression below 0.025; in Mg the two effects balance.