A Interatomic distance in diatomic molecules

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Hello! I know this question is quite random, but I wasn't sure how else to search for this. Assume we have a diatomic molecule with one large and one small nucleus, for example BaF, such that the electron (assume there is just one electron outside the open shell) is localized around the massive nucleus. Is there anything we can learn from the electron density at the massive nucleus as a function of the internuclear distance i.e. ##\rho_e^{Ba}(R)##? Are there any new physics models (or even SM observables) that can be constrained by measuring this dependence? Thank you!
 
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Atomic physics is well understood. At the distances and energies involved in diatomic molecules, quantum electrodynamics is extremely accurate, and any discrepancies between theory and experiment would be unmeasurably small. If you are looking to get insight on new physics beyond the standard model, you need to go to (much) higher energies.
 
phyzguy said:
If you are looking to get insight on new physics beyond the standard model, you need to go to (much)
This is not entirely true. Atomic physics experiments confirmed the values of the electron g-2 and fine structure constant that put QED on a pedestal to begin with. In recent decades, tabletop atomic physics experiments have surpassed accelerators in niche experiments, like the search for the electron's electric dipole moment. And the traditional measurements of electron g-2 or fine structure constant continue to make accelerators drool. What atomic physics systems lack in energy scale, they make up for in sensitivity.

@Malamala Need some time to think it over. It feels like it'd have to be a three-body interaction since it depends on both the internuclear distance AND the electron density at the massive nucleus.
 
Hi. I have got question as in title. How can idea of instantaneous dipole moment for atoms like, for example hydrogen be consistent with idea of orbitals? At my level of knowledge London dispersion forces are derived taking into account Bohr model of atom. But we know today that this model is not correct. If it would be correct I understand that at each time electron is at some point at radius at some angle and there is dipole moment at this time from nucleus to electron at orbit. But how...

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