The long-range interaction of atoms and molecules

Abstract

The long-range interaction between atomic systems is expressed in terms of multipole frequency-dependent polarizabilities of the separate systems and a variational procedure is set up for calculating them. Application is made to a pair of hydrogen atoms with the result that the interaction at a large separation R is given in rydbergs by: correct to the figures shown. The R ^-6 coefficient agrees with that of Hirschfelder and Löwdin and the R ^-8 coefficient agrees with the calculation of Pauling and Beach. The R ^-10 coefficient is much larger than that obtained by Pauling and Beach who included only the quadrupole-quadrupole contribution.