Electron density space

There was enough contrast in this synthesis to see the segments of the polypeptide chain. Molecular boundaries were generally well defined however, there were several points of close intermolecular contacts. It was also possible to detect protuberances of electron density spaced at intervals of about 4 A along many segments. 

In many materials, the relaxations between the layers oscillate. For example, if the first-to-second layer spacing is reduced by a few percent, the second-to-third layer spacing would be increased, but by a smaller amount, as illustrated in figure Al,7,31b). These oscillatory relaxations have been measured with FEED [4, 5] and ion scattering [6, 7] to extend to at least the fifth atomic layer into the material. The oscillatory nature of the relaxations results from oscillations in the electron density perpendicular to the surface, which are called Eriedel oscillations [8]. The Eriedel oscillations arise from Eenni-Dirac statistics and impart oscillatory forces to the ion cores. 

The mixed, v t — % notation here has historic causes.) The Schrodinger equation is obtained from the nuclear Lagrangean by functionally deriving the latter with respect to t /. To get the exact form of the Schrodinger equation, we must let N in Eq. (95) to be equal to the dimension of the electronic Hilbert space (viz., 00), but we shall soon come to study approximations in which N is finite and even small (e.g., 2 or 3). The appropriate nuclear Lagrangean density is for an arbitrary electronic states... 

Note that the sums of the squares of the coefficients in a given MO must equal 1 (e.g., 0.3717 + 0.6015 + 0.3717 + 0.6015 = 1.0 for Pi) because each of the AOs represents a probability distribution of finding the electron at a given point in space. The total probability of finding an electron in all space for an MO must be unity, exactly as for its constituent AOs. We now can see that the LCAO approximation is only one of many possibilities to describe the electron density (= probability) for MOs. We do not have to express the electron density as a linear combination of the electron densities of AOs centered at the atoms. We could also... 

In the spirit of Koopmans theorem, the local ionization potential, IPi, at a point in space near a molecule is defined [46] as in Eq. (54), where HOMO is the highest occupied MO, p( is the electron density due to MO i at the point being considered, and ej is the eigenvalue of MO i. 

Electron density represents the probability of finding an electron at a poin t in space. It is calcii lated from th e elements of th e den sity matrix. The total electron density is the sum of the densities for alpha and beta electrons. In a closed-shell RUE calculation, electron densities are the same for alpha and beta electrons. 

There are ways to plot data with several pieces of data at each point in space. One example would be an isosurface of electron density that has been colorized to show the electrostatic potential value at each point on the surface (Figure 13.6). The shape of the surface shows one piece of information (i.e., the electron density), whereas the color indicates a different piece of data (i.e., the electrostatic potential). This example is often used to show the nucleophilic and electrophilic regions of a molecule. 

FIGURE 13.6 A plot showing two data values. The shape is an isosurface of the total electron density. The color applied to the surface is based on the magnitude of the electrostatic potential at that point in space. 

Wave functions can be visualized as the total electron density, orbital densities, electrostatic potential, atomic densities, or the Laplacian of the electron density. The program computes the data from the basis functions and molecular orbital coefficients. Thus, it does not need a large amount of disk space to store data, but the computation can be time-consuming. Molden can also compute electrostatic charges from the wave function. Several visualization modes are available, including contour plots, three-dimensional isosurfaces, and data slices. 

For all orbitals except s there are regions in space where 0, ) = 0 because either Yimt = 0 or = 0. In these regions the electron density is zero and we call them nodal surfaces or, simply, nodes. For example, the 2p orbital has a nodal plane, while each of the 3d orbitals has two nodal planes. In general, there are I such angular nodes where = 0. The 2s orbital has one spherical nodal plane, or radial node, as Figure 1.7 shows. In general, there are (n — 1) radial nodes for an ns orbital (or n if we count the one at infinity). 

Plasma Types. Eigure 1 (7—9) indicates the various types of plasmas according to their electron density and electron temperature. The colder or low electron energy regions contain cold plasmas such as interstellar and interplanetary space the earth s ionosphere, of which the aurora boreaUs would be a visible type alkaU-vapor plasmas some flames and condensed-state plasmas, including semiconductors (qv). 

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