Faculty of Physics
M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University
Regular Article

# Confinement of Atoms with Robin’s Condition: Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking

## K.A. Sveshnikov$^1$, P.K. Silaev$^2$, A.V. Tolokonnikov$^2$

### Moscow University Physics Bulletin 2017. 72. N 1. P. 29

• Article
Annotation

The properties of the ground state of the hydrogen atom in a spherical vacuum cavity with general boundary “not going out” conditions (i.e., when the probability current through the boundary vanishes) are studied. It is shown that in contrast to the confinement of an atom by a potential barrier, in this case depending on the parameters of the cavity, the atom could be in stable equilibrium at the center of the cavity or shift towards its periphery: spontaneous breaking of spherical symmetry occurs. The phase diagram of the shift and the dependence of the shift value and the binding energy of the ground state of the atom on the cavity parameters are presented. At the same time, the deformation properties of the electron wave function (WF) for an asymmetric distortion are so nontrivial that a non-zero shift occurs even when an electron is repulsed from the cavity boundary.

Approved: 2017 April 17
PACS:
31.15.ve Electron correlation calculations for atoms and ions: ground state
Rissian citation:
К.А. Свешников, П.К. Силаев, А.В. Толоконников.
Вестн. Моск. ун-та. Сер. 3. Физ. Астрон. 2017. № 1. С. 29.
Authors
K.A. Sveshnikov$^1$, P.K. Silaev$^2$, A.V. Tolokonnikov$^2$
$^1$Lomonosov Moscow State University, Bogoliubov Institute for Theoretical Problems of Microphysics
$^2$Department of Quantum Theory and High Energy Physics, Faculty of physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University

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