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

PABLO SERRA; SABRE KAIS; JUAN PABLO NEIROTTI

PHYSICA A - STATISTICAL AND THEORETICAL PHYSICS

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2000 vol. 283 p. 65 - 73

0378-4371

Phase transitions at absolute zero temperature can take place as some parameter in the Hamil-tonian of the system is varied. For the Hamiltonian of N -electron atoms, this parameter is takento be the nuclear charge. As the nuclear charge reaches a critical point, the quantum groundstate changes its characters from being bound to being degenerate or absorbed by a continuum.We describe the large-dimension approximation and the nite-size scaling method to calculatethe critical nuclear charge for which an atom can bind an extra electron to form a stable nega-tive ion. Results show that, at most, only one electron can be added to a free atom in the gasphase. The existence of doubly charged atomic negative ions in a strong magnetic eld will bediscussed.