Asymptotics for two-dimensional atoms (Q664321)

The authors consider an atom confined to two dimensions. It has a fixed nucleus of charge \(Z > 0\) and \(N\) non-relativistic quantum electrons of charge \(-1\). The system is described by the Hamiltonian \(H_{N,z}=\sum_{i=1}^N\bigg(\frac{1}{2}\Delta_i-\frac{Z}{|x_i|}\bigg)+ \sum_{1\leq i<j\leq N}\frac{1}{|x_i-x_j|}\) acting on the antisymmetric space \(\bigwedge_{i=1}^NL^2(R^2)\). The ground state energy of the system is the bottom of the spectrum of \(H_{N,Z}\), denoted by \(E(N,Z)\). In this paper it is established that the ground state energy is given by \(E(N,Z) = -\frac{1}{2}Z^2\ln Z+(E^{TF}(\lambda)+\frac{1}{2}c^H)Z^2+o(Z^2)\) when \(Z\to\infty\) and \(N/Z\to \lambda\), where \(E^{TF}(\lambda)\) is given by a Thomas-Fermi type variational problem and \(c^H\) is an exlicitely given constant. It is shown that the radius of a two-dimensional neutral atom is unbounded when \(Z\to\infty\), which is not expected in three-dimensional atoms.