Electronic shell structure of large metallic clusters in the modified harmonic oscillator

TL;DR

This paper investigates how adding a specific term to the deformed harmonic oscillator potential affects the shell structure in large metallic clusters, revealing a scaling law that predicts the persistence of shell effects.

Contribution

It introduces a scaling law that delineates the boundary between regular and chaotic behavior in the shell structure of large metallic clusters with a modified harmonic oscillator.

Findings

Shell structure persists at higher particle numbers with reduced deformation.

A scaling law relates energy, deformation, and the strength of the added term.

Shell effects diminish with increasing deformation at large particle numbers.

Abstract

Shell structure in the single particle spectrum of deformed harmonic oscillator potentials when a term proportional to $(\vec L)^2$ is added is analyzed for a large particle number. A scaling law which gives a dividing line between regular and chaotic behavior in terms of energy, deformation and strength of the $(\vec L)^2$ term has been found. According to this law, shell structure survives for higher particle numbers only with lesser deformation.