Premium
Classic ionic crystals and quantal Wigner electron solids: Role of electron correlation
Author(s) -
March N. H.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/qua.10363
Subject(s) - jellium , electron , polarizability , electronic correlation , ionic bonding , ion , condensed matter physics , chemistry , electron density , wigner crystal , quantum , electron localization function , physics , chemical physics , atomic physics , quantum mechanics , molecule
Motivated by the pioneering studies of Löwdin on ionic crystals like NaCl and CsCl, and on electron correlation, recent work on the polarizability of the anion in such materials, and its relation to the free‐space polarizability, will first be reported. The essential role of electron correlation in treating negative ions will be emphasized. The Madelung energy, crucial for the stability of such classic ionic crystals, is then pointed out, within the framework of the jellium model of strongly interacting electrons, to lead to quantal Wigner electron crystals. Work will be summarized first on such an electron solid in three dimensions and in particular its melting curve will be discussed. Attention will then be focused on the freezing of the 2‐D liquid in a GaAs–AlGaAs heterojunction in a transverse magnetic field. Finally, it is stressed that electron–electron repulsion plus localization due to the applied magnetic field order the low‐density electrons into such a magnetically induced Wigner electron solid. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2003