Finite Size Scaling method for the Stability of Atomic and Molecular Ions

SABRE KAIS; PABLO SERRA

Atlanta

Conferencia; APS Centennial Meeting of the American Physical Society; 1999

American Physical Society

Phase transitions at absolute zero temperature can take place as some parameter in the Hamiltonian of the system is varied. For such transitions, crossing the phase boundary means that the quantum ground state changes in some fundamental way. 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 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. The method can be generalized to calculate other critical phenomena in atomic and molecuar system.