Classical Coulomb Systems:Screening and Correlations Revisited

Abstract

From the laws of macroscopic electrostatics of conductors (in particular the existence of screening) taken for granted, one can deduce universal properties for the thermal fluctuations in a classical Coulomb system at equilibrium. The universality is especially apparent in the long-range correlations of the electrical potentials and fields. The charge fluctuations are derived from the field fluctuations. This is a convenient way for studying the surface charge fluctuations on a conductor with boundaries. Explicit results are given for simple geometries. The potentials and the fields have Gaussian fluctuations, except for a short-distance cutoff.