Transferable model potential for liquid lithium

The static and dynamic structure factors of liquid lithium near the melting point are calculated with the electron-ion potential of Fiolhais and co-wo rkers, which was originally developed for the solid state. After computing the effective pair potential u(r), we deduce the structure factor and the p air correlation function in the framework of the soft-core mean spherical a pproximation. Then, we calculate the dynamic structure factor S(q,omega) wi thin the viscoelastic model. The influence of the local-field correction is discussed by comparing the results with experimental measurements and the transferability of the model potential from solid to liquid environment is shown. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.