Van der Waals interactions between two hydrogen atoms: The next orders

2020/07/08 by Éric Cancès, Cancès, Éric, Rafaël Coyaud +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Quantum Mechanics and Non-Hermitian Physics #Quantum Mechanics and Applications

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2007.04227

Abstract

We extend a method (E. Cancès and L.R. Scott, SIAM J. Math. Anal., 50, 2018, 381--410) to compute more terms in the asymptotic expansion of the van der Waals attraction between two hydrogen atoms. These terms are obtained by solving a set of modified Slater-Kirkwood partial differential equations. The accuracy of the method is demonstrated by numerical simulations and comparison with other methods from the literature. It is also shown that the scattering states of the hydrogen atom, that are the states associated with the continuous spectrum of the Hamiltonian, have a major contribution to the C₆ coefficient of the van der Waals expansion.

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