THE SHORT-RANGE INTERACTION BETWEEN HYDROGEN MOLECULES

摘要

Recent calculations of the ground state energy of a system of four hydrogen atoms are reviewed from the point of view of discerning the short-range interaction potential between two hydrogen molecules. Consistency amongst the results of these calculations suggests that the potential for intermolecular separations in the region 1=2.5A can now be specified to about ten percent with considerable confidence. Analytic fits to spherical averages of these results are presented. For calcu¬lations of properties of high density solid molecular hydrogen, the bare pair potential may thus be regarded as well determined. The role of multicenter terms can then be examined; as for example, recent reported work seems to indicate that pairwise additivity is not altogether valid in practice.