Abstract
Recent progress in the theory of liquid–solid coexistence as approached from the liquid phase in systems with Coulomb forces is reviewed. Main attention is given to (i) Wigner crystallization of the electron gas in the degenerate and classical limits, and (ii) localization of bond particles leading to freezing in a pseudoclassical liquid-state version of the bond-charge model for elemental semiconductors. These models serve to illustrate crystalization driven by pure Coulomb repulsions and crystallization resulting from the interplay of attractions and repulsions in multicomponent systems, respectively.