Ground‐state energy of uranium diatomic quasimolecules with one and two electrons.

Ground‐state energies of the one‐ and two‐electron uranium dimers are calculated for internuclear distances in the range D=40–1,000 fm and compared with the previous calculations. The generalization of the dual‐kinetic‐balance approach for axially symmetric systems is employed to solve the two‐center Dirac equation without the partial‐wave expansion for the potential of two nuclei. The one‐electron one‐loop QED contributions (self‐energy and vacuum polarization) to the ground‐state energy are evaluated using the monopole approximation for the two‐center potential. Interelectronic interaction of the first and second order is taken into account for the two‐electron quasimolecule. Within the QED approach, one‐photon‐exchange contribution is calculated in the two‐center potential, whereas the two‐photon‐exchange contribution is treated in the monopole approximation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]