Results for the short-range screening potentials of classical Coulomb fluids, which were significantly different from existing theory and from earlier approaches, were obtained by Ichimaru et al. by their analyses of extra long simulations. In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. E 50, 2977 (1994)], Ichimaru, Ogata, and Tsuruta (IOT) summarize these results and attempt to support them with more simulations and with cluster model studies. In this paper I present an alternative analysis of the same data, which is in contradiction with the analyses of Ichimaru et al., as portrayed by IOT. I present an analysis of general axially symmetric clusters that is different from that of IOT and provides insight into the short-range screening potentials of strongly coupled plasmas. In particular, I give an exact mathematical proof that questions the main conclusion of IOT from their cluster model studies [their Eq. (49b)]. © 1996 The American Physical Society.

• Received 15 November 1994

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.53.2000