Finite-size scaling method for the stability of atomic and molecular ions

Pablo Serra, Sabre Kais and Juan Pablo Neirotti

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2000, vol. 283, issue 1, 65-73

Abstract: Phase transitions at absolute zero temperature can take place as some parameter in the Hamiltonian of the system is varied. For the Hamiltonian of N-electron atoms, this parameter is taken to be the nuclear charge. As the nuclear charge reaches a critical point, the quantum ground state changes its characters from being bound to being degenerate or absorbed by a continuum. We describe the large-dimension approximation and the finite-size scaling method to calculate the critical nuclear charge for which an atom can bind an extra electron to form a stable negative ion. Results show that, at most, only one electron can be added to a free atom in the gas phase. The existence of doubly charged atomic negative ions in a strong magnetic field will be discussed.

Keywords: Critical phenomena; Large D limit; Variational expansions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:283:y:2000:i:1:p:65-73

DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(00)00129-1

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