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Strong Coupling Effects in Binary Yukawa Systems

We analyze the acoustic collective excitations in two- and three-dimensional binary Yukawa systems, consisting of two components with different masses. Theoretical analysis reveals a profound difference between the weakly and strongly correlated limits: at weak coupling the two components interact via the mean field only and the oscillation frequency is governed by the light component. In the strongly correlated limit the mode frequency is governed by the combined mass, where the heavy component dominates. Computer simulations in the full coupling range extend and confirm the theoretical results.