6533b82dfe1ef96bd1291481
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Electrons on a spherical surface: Physical properties and hollow spherical clusters
Franco PersicoEmilio FiordilinoDario Cricchiosubject
PhysicsSettore FIS/02 - Fisica Teorica Modelli E Metodi MatematiciShell (structure)ElectronPower lawMolecular physicsSettore FIS/03 - Fisica Della MateriaAtomic and Molecular Physics and OpticsSpherical shellelectron laser interactionspherical clustersPolarizabilityIonization energyFermi gasCritical exponentdescription
We discuss the physical properties of a noninteracting electron gas constrained to a spherical surface. In particular we consider its chemical potentials, its ionization potential, and its electric static polarizability. All these properties are discussed analytically as functions of the number $N$ of electrons. The trends obtained with increasing $N$ are compared with those of the corresponding properties experimentally measured or theoretically evaluated for quasispherical hollow atomic and molecular clusters. Most of the properties investigated display similar trends, characterized by a prominence of shell effects. This leads to the definition of a scale-invariant distribution of magic numbers which follows a power law with critical exponent $\ensuremath{-}0.5$. We conclude that our completely mechanistic and analytically tractable model can be useful for the analysis of self-assembling complex systems.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-07-11 | Physical Review A |