Spatial confinements induce localization or delocalization on the electron density in atoms and molecules, and the hydrogen atom is not the exception to these results. In previous works, this system has been confined by an infinite and a finite potential where the wave-function exhibits an exact solution, and, consequently, their Shannon entropies deliver exact results. In this article, the Shannon entropy in configuration space is examined for the hydrogen atom submitted to four different potentials: (a) infinite potential; (b) Coulomb plus harmonic oscillator; (c) constant potential; and (d) dielectric continuum. For all these potentials, the Schrödinger equation admitted an exact analytic solution, and therefore the corresponding electron density has a closed-form. From the study of these confinements, we observed that the Shannon entropy in configuration space is a good indicator of localization and delocalization of the electron density for ground and excited states of the hydrogen atom confined under these circumstances. In particular, the confinement imposed by a parabolic potential induced characteristics that were not presented for other confinements; for example, the kinetic energy exhibited oscillations when the confinement radius is varied and such oscillations coincided with oscillations showed by the Shannon entropy in configuration space. This result indicates that, when the kinetic energy is increased, the Shannon entropy is decreased and vice versa.
Spatial confinements induce localization or delocalization on the electron density in atoms and molecules, and the hydrogen atom is not the exception to these results. In previous works, this system has been confined by an infinite and a finite potential where the wave-function exhibits an exact solution, and, consequently, their Shannon entropies deliver exact results. In this article, the Shannon entropy in configuration space is examined for the hydrogen atom submitted to four different potentials: (a) infinite potential; (b) Coulomb plus harmonic oscillator; (c) constant potential; and (d) dielectric continuum. For all these potentials, the Schrödinger equation admitted an exact analytic solution, and therefore the corresponding electron density has a closed-form. From the study of these confinements, we observed that the Shannon entropy in configuration space is a good indicator of localization and delocalization of the electron density for ground and excited states of the hydrogen atom confined under these circumstances. In particular, the confinement imposed by a parabolic potential induced characteristics that were not presented for other confinements; for example, the kinetic energy exhibited oscillations when the confinement radius is varied and such oscillations coincided with oscillations showed by the Shannon entropy in configuration space. This result indicates that, when the kinetic energy is increased, the Shannon entropy is decreased and vice versa.
We calculate the energy and Shannon entropy for a hydrogen atom confined in a dielectric spherical microcavity for the fist time. In contrast to the hydrogen atom in the vacuum microcavity, some unexpected and interesting phenomena appear: First, the turning radius for the bound energy changes from positive to negative depends on the dielectric constant of the spherical microcavity sensitively. With the increase of the relative dielectric constant, the turning radius gets larger. Second, the dielectric spherical microcavity impacts the rearrangement of the excited state energy, and breaks the energy degeneracy of the excited states. At some given radius, there is energy crossover between different orbital. Third, the dielectric in the spherical microcavity affects the Shannon entropy for the confined hydrogen atom greatly. The Shannon entropy in the vacuum microcavity is the smallest and the Shannon entropy increases with the relative dielectric constant. For smaller size spherical microcavity, the Shannon entropy change is always negative, which suggests that the electron density is localized. With the increase of the radius of the microcavity, the Shannon entropy change becomes positive, and the confinement of the electron density gets delocalized. Our results show that we can control the confining effect of the spherical microcavity on the atom by changing the dielectric. This work can guide the future experimental studies for trapping and manipulating of atoms and molecules in the external environment and has some practical applications in metrology and quantum information processing.
Abstract This study investigates the impact of spatial confinement and the Hellmann potential on the Shannon entropy of a hydrogenic atom. A hydrogenic atom screened by the Hellmann potential and confined within an impenetrable spherical potential is analyzed. The Schrödinger equation is solved numerically using the finite difference method to determine energy eigenvalues and wavefunctions. These wavefunctions are examined in both position and momentum spaces to calculate the Shannon entropy in position space , the Shannon entropy in momentum space , and the total Shannon entropy . How the confinement radius and the screening parameter affect these entropies is investigated, and the results are compared to those of unconstrained systems. The findings are contrasted with previously reported results and discussed in relation to the Beckner–Bialynicki–Birula–Mycielski (BBM) inequality, offering insights into the behavior of quantum states under confinement. Significant variations in Shannon entropy and energy levels are observed with changes in confinement and screening parameters, providing a deeper understanding of quantum mechanics in confined systems. The study reveals a critical screening parameter at which the behavior of entropy transitions, shedding light on the interplay between spatial confinement, screening effects, and quantum uncertainties.
Abstract The information‐theoretic measure of confined hydrogen atom has been investigated extensively in the literature. However, most of them were focused on the ground state and accurate values of information entropies, such as Shannon entropy, for confined hydrogen are still not determined. In this work, we establish the benchmark results of the Shannon entropy for confined hydrogen atom in a spherical impenetrable sphere, in both position and momentum spaces. This is done by examining the bound state energies, the normalization of wave functions, and the scaling property with respect to isoelectronic hydrogenic ions. The angular and radial parts of Shannon entropy in two conjugate spaces are provided in detail for both free and confined hydrogen atom in ground and several excited states. The entropies in position space decrease logarithmically with decreasing the size of confinement, while those in momentum space increase logarithmically. The Shannon entropy sum, however, approaches to finite values when the confinement radius closes to zero. It is also found that the Shannon entropy sum shares same trend for states with similar density distributions. Variations of entropy for nodeless bound states are significantly distinct form those owning nodes when changing the confinement radius.
Abstract The appearance of critical points in the Shannon entropy sum as a function of confinement radius, in ground and excited state confined hydrogenic systems, is discussed. We illustrate that the Coulomb potential in tandem with the hard sphere confinement are responsible for these points. The positions of these points are observed to vary with the intensity of the potential. The effects of the Coulomb potential on the system are further probed, by examining the differences between the densities of the confined atom and those of the particle confined in a spherical box, for the same confinement radius. These differences are quantified by using Kullback‐Leibler and cumulative residual Kullback‐Leibler distance measures from information theory. These measures detect that the effects of the Coulomb potential are squeezed out of the system as the confinement radius decreases. That is, the confined atom densities resemble the particle in a box ones, for smaller confinement radii. Furthermore, the critical points in the entropy sum lie in the same regions where there are changes in the distance measures, as the atom behaves more particle in a spherical box‐like. The analysis is further complemented by examination of the derivative of the entropy sum with respect to confinement radius. This study illustrates the inhomogeneity in the magnitudes of the derivatives of the entropy sum components and their dependence on the Coulomb potential. A link between the derivative and the entropic force is also illustrated and discussed. Similar behaviors are observed when the virial ratio is compared to the entropic power one, as a function of confinement radius.
An idealised model to treat the effect of spherically confining the electron in a hydrogen-like atom is studied, where the potential is infinite in all space except for a spherical shell. The exact solution of the Schrödinger equation is obtained in terms of two independent solutions of the Kummer equations. It is found that, in some cases, it is necessary to use the standard Kummer M function and a non-standard second solution. In other cases we may use the Kummer U function and in a limiting case the two standard solutions of Bessel's equation. The effect of an imposed dipole field on the shell is treated using the first-order perturbation equation from which the polarisability can be calculated. In addition, the exact wavefunction is used to calculate the Shannon entropies of both position and momentum and it is shown that these measures give insight into the form of the wavefunction.
Abstract Shannon entropy (S), Rényi entropy (R), Tsallis entropy (T), Fisher information (I), and Onicescu energy (E) have been explored extensively in both free H atom (FHA) and confined H atom (CHA). For a given quantum state, accurate results are presented by employing respective exact analytical wave functions in r space. The p‐space wave functions are generated from respective Fourier transforms—for FHA these can be expressed analytically in terms of Gegenbauer polynomials, whereas in CHA these are computed numerically. Exact mathematical expressions of , are derived for circular states of a FHA. Pilot calculations are done taking order of entropic moments (α, β) as in r and p spaces. A detailed, systematic analysis is performed for both FHA and CHA with respect to state indices n, l, and with confinement radius (rc) for the latter. In a CHA, at small rc, kinetic energy increases, whereas decrease with growth of n, signifying greater localization in high‐lying states. At moderate rc, there exists an interplay between two mutually opposing factors: (i) radial confinement (localization) and (ii) accumulation of radial nodes with growth of n (delocalization). Most of these results are reported here for the first time, revealing many new interesting features. Comparison with literature results, wherever possible, offers excellent agreement.