Tuesday 17 November 2020

quantum mechanics - How is Bohr's model related to electron cloud models via the correspondence principle?


I came across a discussion of atomic Rydberg states, which appear to be defined as having their outer electron in a highly excited state. In the same text, it mentioned that these excited electrons could be modeled rather well by the Bohr model.


I don't see why this should be the case. The Bohr model treats the electron as a circularly orbiting body around the nucleus, whereas the electron cloud model seems to produce orbits which are highly anisotropic. In my understanding, the Bohr model also proposes electron orbits with fixed radii.


I don't see how this can be deduced from taking the limit of large $n$. How is Bohr's model related to electron cloud models via the correspondence principle?


On a further side note, I am curious why the different orbital energy splitting as a result of atomic effects (Fine structure, Hyperfine etc) which causes non-degenerate orbitals wrt $\ell$ is ignored for high $n$, where orbital energies are only dependent on the principal quantum number.


References:




  1. Randall G. Hulet and Daniel Kleppner, Rydberg Atoms in "Circular" States, Phys. Rev. Lett. 51 (1983) 1430 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.51.1430





  2. R.J. Brecha, G. Raithel, C. Wagner, H. Walther, Circular Rydberg states with very large n, https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4018(93)90392-I






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