  The effects of size and charge asymmetry on the gas-liquid critical
parameters of a primitive model (PM) of ionic fluids are studied within the
framework of the statistical field theory based on the collective variables
method. Recently, this approach has enabled us to obtain the correct trends of
the both critical parameters of the equisize charge-asymmetric PM without
assuming ionic association. In this paper we focus on the general case of an
asymmetric PM characterized by the two parameters: hard-sphere diameter-,
$\lambda=\sigma_{+}/\sigma_{-}$ and charge, $z=q_{+}/|q_{-}|$, ratios of the
two ionic species. We derive an explicit expression for the chemical potential
conjugate to the order parameter which includes the effects of correlations up
to the third order. Based on this expression we consider the three versions of
PM: a monovalent size-asymmetric PM ($\lambda\neq 1$, $z=1$), an equisize
charge-asymmetric PM ($\lambda=1$, $z\neq 1$) and a size- and charge-asymmetric
PM ($\lambda\neq 1$, $z=2$). Similar to simulations, our theory predicts that
the critical temperature and the critical density decrease with the increase of
size asymmetry. Regarding the effects of charge asymmetry, we obtain the
correct trend of the critical temperature with $z$, while the trend of the
critical density obtained in this approximation is inconsistent with
simulations, as well as with our previous results found in the higher-order
approximation. We expect that the consideration of the higher-order
correlations will lead to the correct trend of the critical density with charge
asymmetry.
