Physics:Axilrod–Teller potential

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Short description: Three-body potential in molecular physics

The Axilrod–Teller potential in molecular physics, is a three-body potential that results from a third-order perturbation correction to the attractive London dispersion interactions (instantaneous induced dipole-induced dipole)

[math]\displaystyle{ V_{ijk}= E_{0} \left[ \frac{1 + 3 \cos\gamma_{i} \cos\gamma_{j} \cos\gamma_{k}}{\left( r_{ij} r_{jk} r_{ik} \right)^3} \right] }[/math]

where [math]\displaystyle{ r_{ij} }[/math] is the distance between atoms [math]\displaystyle{ i }[/math] and [math]\displaystyle{ j }[/math], and [math]\displaystyle{ \gamma_{i} }[/math] is the angle between the vectors [math]\displaystyle{ \mathbf{r}_{ij} }[/math] and [math]\displaystyle{ \mathbf{r}_{ik} }[/math]. The coefficient [math]\displaystyle{ E_{0} }[/math] is positive and of the order [math]\displaystyle{ V\alpha^{3} }[/math], where [math]\displaystyle{ V }[/math] is the ionization energy and [math]\displaystyle{ \alpha }[/math] is the mean atomic polarizability; the exact value of [math]\displaystyle{ E_{0} }[/math] depends on the magnitudes of the dipole matrix elements and on the energies of the [math]\displaystyle{ p }[/math] orbitals.

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