Simulation of the sea of electrons in metals using three-dimensional cell-by-cell automation

A 3D cellular automation discretely moves electrons in a metal according to combined thermal and electrical driving forces by including all of the metal cations and all of the loosely bound electrons comprising the sea of electrons to compute the local electric fields. This cell-by-cell automation is asynchronous, acting on individual species sequentially with immediate neighborhood updates, thereby capturing the outcomes of temporally sparse thermally activated events. Calculations are carried out in a personal computer using the graphics processing unit to efficiently update the electric fields. A population of electron and missing-electron pairs is created to allow the metal to generate a dynamic equilibrium distribution of moving charge at each electron site that is then responsible for creating appropriate fields and potentials while simultaneously maintaining local charge neutrality. Examples are given to show that the simulation produces the expected zero fields inside conductors, the expected loca...