Calculating the many-potential vacuum polarization density of the Dirac equation in the finite-basis approximation

Abstract

In this work, we propose an efficient and accurate computational method to evaluate the many-potential $\alpha\left(Z\alpha\right)^{n\ge3}$ vacuum polarization density of hydrogen-like atoms within the finite-basis approximation of the Dirac equation. To prove the performance of our computational method, we choose to work with the one-electron $_{\,\,\,92}^{238}\text{U}$ atom. In summary, we find that compliance with charge conjugation symmetry is a priori required to obtain physical results that are in line with our knowledge of the analytical problem. We also note that the final numerical results are found to be in excellent agreement with previous formal analytical (and numerical) evaluations that are limited to a few simple nuclear distribution models. Our technique can be efficiently implemented and evaluated in codes that solve the radial Dirac equation in the finite basis set framework and allows the use of arbitrary (radial) nuclear charge distribution. The obtained numerical results of the non-perturbative vacuum polarization density automatically account for the extended nuclear size effect. This method is hence of special importance for atomic Dirac problems whose analytical Green's functions expressions are not at hand or have relatively complicated analytical forms. Furthermore, we propose a vacuum polarization density formula that forces compliance with charge conjugation symmetry and can be used in cases where the relativistic basis violates this symmetry, as is the case in most relativistic basis set programs. In addition, we have shown that vector components of the vacuum polarization four-current vanish in the case where the Dirac Hamiltonian is symmetric under time-reversal symmetry.