English

Scott correction for large atoms and molecules in a self-generated magnetic field

Mathematical Physics 2015-05-28 v1 math.MP

Abstract

We consider a large neutral molecule with total nuclear charge ZZ in non-relativistic quantum mechanics with a self-generated classical electromagnetic field. To ensure stability, we assume that Z\al2κ0Z\al^2\le \kappa_0 for a sufficiently small κ0\kappa_0, where \al\al denotes the fine structure constant. We show that, in the simultaneous limit ZZ\to\infty, \al0\al\to 0 such that κ=Z\al2\kappa =Z\al^2 is fixed, the ground state energy of the system is given by a two term expansion c1Z7/3+c2(κ)Z2+o(Z2)c_1Z^{7/3} + c_2(\kappa) Z^2 + o(Z^2). The leading term is given by the non-magnetic Thomas-Fermi theory. Our result shows that the magnetic field affects only the second (so-called Scott) term in the expansion.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1105.0521,
  title  = {Scott correction for large atoms and molecules in a self-generated magnetic field},
  author = {Laszlo Erdos and Soren Fournais and Jan Philip Solovej},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1105.0521},
  year   = {2015}
}