Free-energy functional of the Debye-Huckel model of simple fluids

The Debye-Huckel approximation to the free energy of a simple fluid is written as a functional of the pair correlation function. This functional can be seen as the Debye-Huckel equivalent to the functional derived in the hypernetted chain framework by Morita and Hiroike, as well as by Lado. It allows one to obtain the Debye-Huckel integral equation through a minimization with respect to the pair correlation function, leads to the correct form of the internal energy, and fulfills the virial theorem.