Electron correlation effects in the dipole polarizabilities of the ground states of Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba and Yb

Abstract

We investigate the role of electron correlation effects in the electric dipole polarizabilities of the ground states of the alkaline earth and ytterbium atoms by employing the relativistic coupled-cluster (RCC) theory. These effects are incorporated via the residual Coulomb interaction to all orders in the RCC singles and doubles approximation. The perturbed wavefunctions used in the calculations of the polarizabilities are obtained by directly solving the first order perturbed RCC equations, thereby avoiding the sum-over-states approach. Our results are compared with other calculations and available experimental data.