Coulomb interaction energy including overlap effects for the ground state of RbCs beyond 7 Å

Abstract

We use a perturbative model based on a partition of the configuration space into four regions to calculate the Coulomb energy including charge-overlap effects (induction and dispersion terms) for the interaction between two atoms Rb(5s2S) and Cs(6s2S). Results for first-order electrostatic as well as second-order induction and dispersion energies will be presented in the range 13 < R < 25 a.u. The damping functions for the various dispersion terms varying as R−6, R−8, and R−10 in the range of large R have also been determined, and fitted analytical forms will be displayed for these terms. From comparison with accurate experimental results, the present method is seen to be valid for values of R beyond 7 Å (1 Å = 10−10 m).