Axilrod–Teller potential

Template:Short description Template:Technical The Axilrod–Teller potential (also known as the Axilrod-Teller-Muto or ATM 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)

$V_{ijk}=E_0\left[\frac{1+3\cos {\gamma }_i\cos {\gamma }_j\cos {\gamma }_k}{{\left(r_{ij}{r}_{jk}{r}_{ik}\right)}^3}\right]$

where $r_{ij}$ is the distance between atoms $i$ and $j$, and ${\gamma }_i$ is the angle between the vectors ${𝐫}_{ij}$ and ${𝐫}_{ik}$. The coefficient $E_0$ is positive and of the order $V{\alpha }^3$, where $V$ is the ionization energy and $\alpha$ is the mean atomic polarizability; the exact value of $E_0$ depends on the magnitudes of the dipole matrix elements and on the energies of the $p$ orbitals.

References

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