The ground state energy of heavy atoms: Relativistic lowering of the leading energy correction (Q930568)

The estimation of the ground state energy of atoms was and still definitely is a rather challenging problem since it was posed more than eighty years ago by Thomas and Fermi in their famous non-relativistic Thomas-Fermi model of atom. The Thomas-Fermi model demonstrates that this energy decreases with the atomic number \(Z\) as \(Z^{7/3}\). The existence of the second-order, so-called Scott correction term of the order of \(Z^2\) was the matter of the works by Scott, Schwinger and Englert, Schwinger, and the others (see also the book by [\textit{E. S. Kryachko} and \textit{E.V. Ludeña}, Energy Density Functional Theory of Many-Electron Systems. Kluwer, Dordrecht, 864 pp. (1990)]). It was raised however the question of the validity of this and higher-order corrections since relativistic corrections become important and may dominate for larger atoms. The first estimation of the relativistic effects on the Scott correction was made by Schwinger. Sørensen, on the other hand, proved that the Thomas-Fermi leading term is unaffected if the Schrödinger kinetic energy operator in the non-relativistic Hamiltonian is replaced by the Chandrasekhar operator. The present work provides the proof of the Scott correction of the latter operator that is valid up to an including of a critical coupling constant and based on a renormalization of the energy which zero level is adjusted to the ground-state energy in the non-relativistic limit.