VISCOUS DISSIPATION OF SOUND IN STRONGLY COMPRESSED PLASMAS

Theoretical investigation is made into ion sound propagation and damping in strongly coupled plasmas near the Wigner crystallization of the ion subsystem. Sound velocity grows with the strengthening of the coupling, and sound decay is due to ion viscosity. The transition from the collisional mechanism of viscosity to the vacancial one proceeds along the Wigner crystallization of the ion subsystem. As a result, a sharp increase in viscosity occurs. Viscoelastic sound replaces hydrodynamic viscous sound. The damping of the viscoelastic sound is determined by Landau damping in the electron subsystem. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.