Connectivity and percolation of randomly centered spheres: Correction to the Percus–Yevick approximation

The connectivity and percolation behavior of a system of one-component randomly centered spheres is studied based on a new approximation scheme which goes beyond the Percus–Yevick closure. This new closure corrects the Percus–Yevick direct-connectedness function. The percolation density determined from this approximation agrees with the simulation result to within 4% (compared with a 43% deviation in the Percus–Yevick approximation). Good agreement for the pair-connectedness function is also obtained.