The energy of heavy atoms according to Brown and Ravenhall: the Scott correction

MaRDI QIDQ845267zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors R. L. Frank, S. Warzel, Heinz Siedentop

Publication date 27 January 2010

Published in Documenta Mathematica (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0805.4441, https://eudml.org/doc/223915, http://www.emis.de/journals/DMJDMV/vol-14/17.html

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zbMATH Keywords

Brown-Ravenhall operatorChandrasekhar modelground-state energyheavy atomshydrogen atomrelativistic atomSchrödinger many-particle operatorScott correctionSobolev inequalityThomas-Fermi model

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

PDEs in connection with quantum mechanics (35Q40) Applications of functional analysis in quantum physics (46N50) Applications of operator theory in the physical sciences (47N50) Atomic physics (81V45) Molecular physics (81V55)

Abstract: We consider relativistic many-particle operators which - according to Brown and Ravenhall - describe the electronic states of heavy atoms. Their ground state energy is investigated in the limit of large nuclear charge and velocity of light. We show that the leading quasi-classical behavior given by the Thomas-Fermi theory is raised by a subleading correction, the Scott correction. Our result is valid for the maximal range of coupling constants, including the critical one. As a technical tool, a Sobolev-Gagliardo-Nirenberg-type inequality is established for the critical atomic Brown-Ravenhall operator. Moreover, we prove sharp upper and lower bound on the eigenvalues of the hydrogenic Brown-Ravenhall operator up to and including the critical coupling constant.

Review text

The key aim of the present work is to study the relativistic Brown-Ravenhall operator that describes the electronic states of heavy atoms, to compare its ground-state energy with that of the Schrödinger operator, to compare the hydrogenic Brown-Ravenhall and Chandrasekhar operators, and to prove that the subleading quasi-classical term, following the leading Thomas-Fermi term is the Scott correction.

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Cited in

(14)

• A simple proof of Hardy-Lieb-Thirring inequalities
• A statistical theory of heavy atoms: asymptotic behavior of the energy and stability of matter
• Proof of the strong Scott conjecture for heavy atoms: the furry picture
• The atomic density on the Thomas-Fermi length scale for the Chandrasekhar Hamiltonian
• The ground state energy of heavy atoms: the leading correction
• The Scott conjecture for large Coulomb systems: a review
• Relativistic Scott correction for atoms and molecules
• BORN–OPPENHEIMER APPROXIMATION FOR THE BROWN–RAVENHALL EQUATION
• Scott correction for large atoms and molecules in a self-generated magnetic field
• The magnetic Scott correction for relativistic matter at criticality
• The ground-state energy of heavy atoms according to Brown and Ravenhall: absence of relativistic effects in leading order
• The ground state energy of heavy atoms: leading and subleading asymptotics
• The Scott correction in Dirac-Fock theory
• The ground state energy of heavy atoms: Relativistic lowering of the leading energy correction

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