Modified Landau-Placzek ratio of the liquid metal rubidium beyond hydrodynamics.

The intensity ratio of the Rayleigh line and the Brillouin lines can be derived within hydrodynamics and is known as the Landau-Placzek (LP) ratio. This ratio is directly related to the ratio of specific heats of the fluid. Within the microscopic wave vector range, which can be probed by inelastic neutron scattering, the intensity ratio for simple liquid metals deviates distinctly from the hydrodynamic prediction of the LP-ratio. We derive the intensity ratio from experimental data of liquid rubidium, which shows an enhanced LP-ratio by a factor 8 compared to the hydrodynamic prediction. This strong deviation indicates a further relaxation process in the microscopic wave vector range beyond hydrodynamics. That relaxation process is the viscoelastic reaction of the simple liquid to density fluctuations. Taking this process into account a modified LP-ratio is able to describe the data quite well.

State dependent particle dynamics in liquid alkali metals.

This paper gives a survey of the particle dynamics in the liquid alkali metals observed with inelastic x-ray and neutron scattering experiments. Liquid rubidium and sodium are chosen as model fluids to represent the behaviour of this group of fluids. In the dense metallic monatomic melt the microscopic dynamics is characterized by collective excitations similar to those in the corresponding solids. The collective particle behaviour is appropriately described using a memory function formalism with two relaxation channels for the density correlation. A similar behaviour is found for the single particle motion where again two relaxation mechanisms are needed to accurately reproduce the experimental findings. Special emphasis is given to the density dependence of the particle dynamics. An interesting issue in liquid metals is the metal to non-metal transition, which is observed if the fluid is sufficiently expanded with increasing temperature and pressure. This causes distinct variations in the interparticle interactions, which feed back onto the motional behaviour. The associated variations in structure and dynamics are reflected in the shape of the scattering laws. The experimentally observed features are discussed and compared with simple models and with the results from computer simulations.