Cold Coulomb Systems

In this Chapter the statistical mechanics of charged particles subject to Coulomb interactions is discussed. The relevant physical parameters are introduced which enable one to classify the different systems under inspection. The classification is drawn for the reference case of globally neutral systems, with two species of charges, one positive and the other negative, equal in magnitude. The case of strongly interacting plasma is discussed and the equilibrium properties analyzed in the framework of the Debye-Huckel theory. In the final part of the Chapter, degenerate electron systems and the concept of Wigner crystal are reviewed.