Physicists Ponder Atoms Without Nuclei

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This illustration ashows the absolute value of the real part of the two-electron wave function for the H-initial state (a) before and (b) after an attosecond full-cycle pulse with a half-cycle momentum transfer equal to 10 atomic units and pulse dura ...
This illustration ashows the absolute value of the real part of the two-electron wave function for the H-initial state (a) before and (b) after an attosecond full-cycle pulse with a half-cycle momentum transfer equal to 10 atomic units and pulse duration equal to 0.6 atomic units. The arrow in (b) points in the direction in which the wavepacket is displaced with respect to the nucleus and the CM denotes the center of mass of the wavepacket. The small cut in the wavepacket in (b) is due to the electron-electron repulsion in the continuum. Image Credit: Darko Dimitrovski.
You might remember learning in sixth grade science class that isotopes are atoms that have lost or gained a few neutrons, and ions are atoms that have lost or gained a few electrons. But what about an atom that has lost its entire nucleus – when essentially all that remains are the electrons whizzing around in their defined orbits?


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