Shannon Entropy in Confined He-Like Ions within a Density Functional Formalism

Abstract

Shannon entropy in position ( S r ) and momentum ( S p ) spaces, along with their sum ( S t ) are presented for unit-normalized densities of He, Li + and Be 2 + ions, spatially confined at the center of an impenetrable spherical enclosure defined by a radius r c . Both ground, as well as some selected low-lying singly excited states, viz., 1sns (n = 2–4) 3S, 1snp (n = 2–3) 3P, 1s3d 3D, are considered within a density functional methodology that makes use of a work function-based exchange potential along with two correlation potentials (local Wigner-type parametrized functional, as well as the more involved non-linear gradient- and Laplacian-dependent Lee-Yang-Parr functional). The radial Kohn-Sham (KS) equation is solved using an optimal spatial discretization scheme via the generalized pseudospectral (GPS) method. A detailed systematic analysis of the confined system (relative to the corresponding free system) is performed for these quantities with respect to r c in tabular and graphical forms, with and without electron correlation. Due to compression, the pattern of entropy in the aforementioned states becomes characterized by various crossovers at intermediate and lower r c regions. The impact of electron correlation is more pronounced in the weaker confinement limit and appears to decay with the rise in confinement strength. The exchange-only results are quite good to provide a decent qualitative discussion. The lower bounds provided by the entropic uncertainty relation hold well in all cases. Several other new interesting features are observed.