The Ionization Conjecture in Thomas-Fermi-Dirac-von Weizsacker Theory

Frank, Rupert L.; Nam, Phan Thanh; Bosch, Hanne van den (2018): The Ionization Conjecture in Thomas-Fermi-Dirac-von Weizsacker Theory. In: Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics, Vol. 71, No. 3: pp. 577-614

Abstract

We prove that in Thomas-Fermi-Dirac-von Weizsacker theory, a nucleus of charge Z>0 can bind at most Z+C electrons, where C is a universal constant. This result is obtained through a comparison with Thomas-Fermi theory which, as a by-product, gives bounds on the screened nuclear potential and the radius of the minimizer. A key ingredient of the proof is a novel technique to control the particles in the exterior region, which also applies to the liquid drop model with a nuclear background potential.(c) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics > Mathematics
• Subjects: 500 Science > 510 Mathematics
• ISSN: 0010-3640
• Language: English