Ion structure factors and electron transport in dense Coulomb plasmas

The dynamical structure factor of a Coulomb crystal of ions is calculated a t arbitrary temperature below the melting point, taking into account multip honon processes in the harmonic approximation. In a strongly coupled Coulom b ion liquid, the static structure factor is split into two parts, a Bragg diffraction-like one, describing incipient long-range order structures, and an inelastic part corresponding to thermal ion-density fluctuations. It is assumed that the diffractionlike scattering does not lead to the electron relaxation in the liquid phase. This assumption, together with the inclusio n of multiphonon processes in the crystalline phase, eliminates large disco ntinuities of the transport coefficients (jumps of the thermal and electric conductivities, as well as shear viscosity, reported previously) at a melt ing point.