Particles independent

The purpose of this chapter is to provide an introduction to tlie basic framework of quantum mechanics, with an emphasis on aspects that are most relevant for the study of atoms and molecules. After siumnarizing the basic principles of the subject that represent required knowledge for all students of physical chemistry, the independent-particle approximation so important in molecular quantum mechanics is introduced. A significant effort is made to describe this approach in detail and to coimnunicate how it is used as a foundation for qualitative understanding and as a basis for more accurate treatments. Following this, the basic teclmiques used in accurate calculations that go beyond the independent-particle picture (variational method and perturbation theory) are described, with some attention given to how they are actually used in practical calculations. 

Applications of quantum mechanics to chemistry invariably deal with systems (atoms and molecules) that contain more than one particle. Apart from the hydrogen atom, the stationary-state energies caimot be calculated exactly, and compromises must be made in order to estimate them. Perhaps the most useful and widely used approximation in chemistry is the independent-particle approximation, which can take several fomis. Conuiion to all of these is the assumption that the Hamiltonian operator for a system consisting of n particles is approximated by tlie sum... 

It should be mentioned that the single-particle Flamiltonians in general have an infinite number of solutions, so that an uncountable number of wavefiinctions [/ can be generated from them. Very often, interest is focused on the ground state of many-particle systems. Within the independent-particle approximation, this state can be represented by simply assigning each particle to the lowest-lying energy level. If a calculation is... 

Although a separation of electronic and nuclear motion provides an important simplification and appealing qualitative model for chemistry, the electronic Sclirodinger equation is still fomiidable. Efforts to solve it approximately and apply these solutions to the study of spectroscopy, stmcture and chemical reactions fonn the subject of what is usually called electronic structure theory or quantum chemistry. The starting point for most calculations and the foundation of molecular orbital theory is the independent-particle approximation. 

A superb treatment of applied molecular orbital theory and its application to organic, inorganic and solid state chemistry. Perhaps the best source for appreciating the power of the independent-particle approximation and its remarkable ability to account for qualitative behaviour in chemical systems. 

A highly readable account of early efforts to apply the independent-particle approximation to problems of organic chemistry. Although more accurate computational methods have since been developed for treating all of the problems discussed in the text, its discussion of approximate Hartree-Fock (semiempirical) methods and their accuracy is still useful. Moreover, the view supplied about what was understood and what was not understood in physical organic chemistry three decades ago is... 

In the independent particle approximation, the simplifying assumption is made that V i) is an average potential due to a core that consists of the nuclei and all elections other than elechon i... 

In summary, we have made three assumptions 1) the Bom-Oppenheimer approximation, 2) the independent particle assumption governing molecular orbitals, and 3) the assumption of n-molecular orbital theory, but the third is unique to the Huckel molecular orbital method. 

Treating an asperity as an independent particle, JKR theory states that the force Ps needed to effect detachment of a spherical asperity from a planar substrate is given by... 

Gertlauer, A., Mitrovic, A., Motz, S. and Gilles, E.-D., 2001. A population balance model for crystallization processes using two independent particles properties. Chemical Engineering Science, 56(7), 2553-2565. 

In our discussion of the electron density in Chapter 5, I mentioned the density functions pi(xi) and p2(xi,X2). I have used the composite space-spin variable X to include both the spatial variables r and the spin variable s. These density functions have a probabilistic interpretation pi(xi)dridii gives the chance of finding an electron in the element dri d i of space and spin, whilst P2(X], X2) dt] d i dt2 di2 gives the chance of finding simultaneously electron 1 in dri dii and electron 2 in dr2di2- The two-electron density function gives information as to how the motion of any pair of electrons is correlated. For independent particles, these probabilities are independent and so we would expect... 

In such a case we say that there is no correlation between the particles. This would certainly be the case if there were no electrostatic interaction between electrons, but it also holds for the electrons in Hartree s original SCF model. This is because each electron experiences an average potential due to the remaining electrons and the nuclei. Electrons repel each other, and we would certainly expect the probability of finding two of them close together would be reduced compared to the value expected for independent particles. 

The electrons are treated as independent particles constrained to a three-dimensional box, treated here for simplicity as a cube of side L. The box contains the metallic sample. The potential U is infinite outside the box, and a constant Uq inside the box. We focus attention on a single electron whose electronic Schrodinger equation is... 

The idea in perturbation methods is that the problem at hand only differs slightly from a problem which has already been solved (exactly or approximately). The solution to the given problem should therefore in some sense be close to the solution of the already known system. This is described mathematically by defining a Hamilton operator which consists of two part, a reference (Hq) and a perturbation (H )- The premise of perturbation methods is that the H operator in some sense is small compared to Hq. In quantum mechanics, perturbational methods can be used for adding corrections to solutions which employ an independent particle approximation, and the theoretical framework is then called Many-Body Perturbation Theory (MBPT). 

In Section II.C we gave a general discussion of the Coulomb correlation, and we will now define the correlation error in the independent-particle model in greater detail. It is convenient to study the first- and second-order density matrices and, according to the definitions (Eq. II.9) applied to the symmetryless case, we obtain... 

The general idea of using different orbitals for different spins" seems thus to render an important extension of the entire framework of the independent-particle model. There seem to be essential physical reasons for a comparatively large orbital splitting depending on correlation, since electrons with opposite spins try to avoid each other because of their mutual Coulomb repulsion, and, in systems with unbalanced spins, there may further exist an extra exchange polarization of the type emphasized by Slater. 

With these motivational remarks, we now recover standard KS theory (in the particular instance just defined) from Eq. (3.16) for this specific case but with an important new constraint. Let Sjvi/p(p) the set of all Independent Particle FORDO s corresponding to p with precisely N non-zero terms ... 

NUp(p) The set of Independent Particle FORDO s that produce the same density p... 

The system under study is assumed to consist of 2A, electrons, possibly in the presence of a nuclear framework. An orbital picture of the quantum behaviour of the system is then introduced on accepting the validity of an independent-particle model where each electron moves in the field of an effective potential v(r), which afterwards is left substantially unspecified. We emphasize, however, that the choice of v(F) is an essential step of any modeling. Besides semiempirical forms, effective potentials v[ (r)] functionally dependent on the electron numeral density n(r) are intuitively bound to play a prominent role in applications. 

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