Fragmentation of multiply charged simple metal clusters in liquid-drop stabilized jellium model

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stability and fragmentation of multiply charged metal clusters using a liquid-drop stabilized jellium model, revealing how charge, size, and electron density influence decay processes.

Contribution

It introduces a combined liquid-drop and stabilized jellium model approach to analyze the stability and decay mechanisms of multiply charged metal clusters.

Findings

Singly ionized clusters are stable against spontaneous fragmentation.

Multiply charged small clusters can undergo spontaneous fission.

Lower electron density clusters can hold more excess charge before exploding.

Abstract

In this work, we have used the liquid-drop model in the context of stabilized jellium model, to study the stability of $Z$-ply charged metal clusters of different species against fragmentation. We have shown that on the one hand, singly ionized clusters are stable against any spontaneous fragmentation, and on the other hand, the most favored decay process for them is atomic evaporation. However, multiply charged clusters of sufficiently small sizes may undergo spontaneous decay via fission processes. Comparing the results for different species show that for fixed $N$, the lower electron density metal clusters can accommodate more excess charges before their Coulomb explosions. This comparison also shows that, for fixed $Z$, the atomic evaporation which is the most favored decay mechanism for sufficiently large clusters, takes place at lower $N$s for lower electron density clusters.