Theoretical determination of polarizability and magnetic susceptibility of neon

Abstract

We report theoretical determination of the dipole polarizability of the neon atom, including its frequency dependence. Corrections for the relativistic, quantum electrodynamics, finite nuclear mass, and finite nuclear size effects are taken into account. We obtain the value α0 = 2.66080(36) for the static polarizability, and α2 = 2.850(7) and α4 = 4.932(14) for the first two polarizability dispersion coefficients (Cauchy moments); all values are in atomic units (a.u.). In the case of static polarizability, our result agrees with the best experimental determination [C. Gaiser and B. Fellmuth, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 123203 (2018)], but our estimated uncertainty is significantly larger. For the dispersion coefficients, the results obtained in this work appear to be the most accurate to date overall compared to published theoretical and experimental data. We also calculated the static magnetic susceptibility of the neon atom, needed to obtain the refractive index of gaseous neon. Our result, χ0 = −8.484(19) • 10 −5 a.u., is about 9% larger in absolute value than the recommended experimental value [CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, CRC Press, 2019, p. 4-145].