Kinetic Theory of Self-diffusion in a Moderately Dense One-component Plasma

A microscopic description of self-diffusion in a moderately dense classical one-component plasma is given on the basis of renormalized kinetic theory. The effects of close binary collisions and of collective interactions in the plasma are taken into account through the use of a composite memory kernel that includes both the Boltzmann and the Balescu-Guernsey-Lenard kernels as special cases. The composite kernel satisfies the lowest-order sum rule by virtue of the approximate validity of the hypernetted-chain equation for the static plasma correlation function. The ensuing values of the self-diffusion coefficient are obtained numerically for several plasma densities and are compared with the results of previous theories and of molecular dynamics.