Probing ion-ion and electron-ion correlations in liquid metals within the quantum hypernetted chain approximation

We use the quantum hypernetted chain approximation to calculate the ion-ion and electron-ion correlations for liquid metallic Li, Be, Na, Mg, Al, K, Ca, and Ga. We discuss trends in electron-ion structure factors and radial distribution functions, and also calculate the free-atom and metallic-atom form factors, focusing on how bonding effects affect the interpretation of x-ray scattering experiments, especially measurements of the ion-ion structure factor in the liquid metallic phase.