Walking with the Atoms in a Chemical Bond: A Perspective Using Quantum Phase Transition

Phase transitions happen at critical values of the controlling parameters, such as the critical temperature in classical phase transitions, and system critical parameters in the quantum case. However, true criticality happens only at the thermodynamic limit, when the number of particles goes to infinity with constant density. To perform the calculations for the critical parameters, a finite-size scaling approach was developed to extrapolate information from a finite system to the thermodynamic limit. With the advancement in the experimental and theoretical work in the field of ultra-cold systems, particularly trapping and controlling single atomic and molecular systems, one can ask: do finite systems exhibit quantum phase transition? To address this question, finite-size scaling for finite systems was developed to calculate the quantum critical parameters. The recent observation of a quantum phase transition in a single trapped ¹⁷¹ Yb⁺ ion indicates the possibility of quantum phase transitions in finite systems. This perspective focuses on examining chemical processes at ultra-cold temperatures, as quantum phase transitions—particularly the formation and dissociation of chemical bonds—are the basic processes for understanding the whole of chemistry.. Authors: Kais, Sabre [Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (United States); OSTI] (ORCID:0000000305745346). DOE Contract: SC0019215. Subjects: 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; finite-size scaling; formation of chemical bond; physics; quantum phase transitions