Second order semiclassics with self-generated magnetic fields

Closed and approximate solutions to the Schrödinger, Dirac, Klein-Gordon and other equations of quantum mechanics (81Q05) Semiclassical techniques, including WKB and Maslov methods applied to problems in quantum theory (81Q20)

Abstract: We consider the semiclassical asymptotics of the sum of negative eigenvalues of the three-dimensional Pauli operator with an external potential and a self-generated magnetic field

B

. We also add the field energy

and we minimize over all magnetic fields. The parameter

effectively determines the strength of the field. We consider the weak field regime with

, where

h

is the semiclassical parameter. For smooth potentials we prove that the semiclassical asymptotics of the total energy is given by the non-magnetic Weyl term to leading order with an error bound that is smaller by a factor

h^{1 + e}

, i.e. the subleading term vanishes. However, for potentials with a Coulomb singularity the subleading term does not vanish due to the non-semiclassical effect of the singularity. Combined with a multiscale technique, this refined estimate is used in the companion paper cite{EFS3} to prove the second order Scott correction to the ground state energy of large atoms and molecules.

Review text

The authors consider semiclassical Pauli and Schrödinger operators with self-generated magnetic field and smooth exterior electric potential. They show in both cases that the second term in the semiclassical asymtotics of the trace of the negative spectrum vanishes. Given a smooth electric potential \(V\) and a smooth magnetic potential \(A\), the authors consider the trace of the negative spectrum of the one-body semiclassical Pauli (resp. Schrödinger) operator. Adding the (classical) field energy to the trace, they minimize among all possible vector potentials \(A\). They obtain an energy \(E\) which stands for the energy of ``the system with self-generated magnetic field. While the leading term of the semiclassical asymptotics for this energy was shown to be of Weyl type in the paper [the first author et al., Commun. Math. Phys. 294, No. 1, 229--249 (2010; Zbl 1207.81199)], the authors prove here that, thanks to the smoothness of \(V\), the next term vanishes. This result is useful for the study of the Scott correction for such a system with self-generated magnetic field (cf. [the first author et al., Commun. Math. Phys. 312, No. 3, 847--882 (2012; Zbl 1283.81124)]), where the Coulomb singularity in \(V\) produces a non-zero second term in the asymptotics. The present proof makes use of multiscale analysis. It has to take into account that, after minimization, the self-generated vector potential \(A\) might be non smooth.

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