Monte-Carlo studies of bosonic van der Waals clusters

Abstract

In a previous paper (http://www.phys.uri.edu/people/nightingale/publications.html, chem-ph/9406003) we developed a form of variational trial wave function and applied it to van der Waals clusters: five or less atoms of Ar and Ne modeled by the Lennard-Jones potential. In addition, we tested the trial functions for a hypothetical, light atom resembling Ne but with only half its mass. We did not study atoms such as He with larger de Boer parameters, i.e., systems in which the zero point energy plays a more important role relative to the potential energy. This is the main purpose of the present paper. In fact, we study clusters to the very limit where the zero-point energy destroys the ground state as a bound state. A simple picture of this un-binding transition predicts the power law with which the energy vanishes as the de Boer parameter approaches its critical value and the power of the divergence of the the size of the clusters in this limit. Our numerical results are in agreement with these predictions.