A Paramagnetic Bonding Mechanism for Diatomics in Strong Magnetic Fields

Abstract

Magnetically Bound At the macroscopic scale associated with daily life on Earth, magnetic attraction can seem fairly strong—think of the great loads moved by magnetized cranes. Microscopically, however, the field strengths attainable by human construction act as just a small perturbation on the Coulombic forces that bind atoms into molecules. Lange et al. (p. 327 ; see the Perspective by Schmelcher ) used theoretical calculations to examine atomic behavior in environments very close to certain stars, where magnetic fields exceed those attainable on Earth by factors of 10,000 or more. The results predict a distinct type of chemical bonding in which spin-parallel hydrogen atoms or ground-state helium atoms are drawn together into pairs.