Counterion-mediated weak and strong coupling electrostatic interaction between like-charged cylindrical dielectrics

We examine the effective counterion-mediated electrostatic interaction between two like-charged dielectric cylinders immersed in a continuous dielectric medium containing neutralizing mobile counterions. We focus on the effects of image charges induced as a result of the dielectric mismatch between the cylindrical cores and the surrounding dielectric medium and investigate the counterion-mediated electrostatic interaction between the cylinders in both limits of weak and strong electrostatic couplings (corresponding, e.g., to systems with monovalent and multivalent counterions, respectively). The results are compared with extensive Monte Carlo simulations exhibiting good agreement with the limiting weak and strong coupling results in their respective regime of validity. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3430744]