Atomic swelling upon compression

Abstract

The hydrogen atom under the pressure of a spherical penetrable confinement potential of a decreasing radius $r_{0}$ is explored, as a case study. A novel counter-intuitive effect of atomic swelling rather than shrinking with decreasing $r_{0}$ is unraveled, when $r_{0}$ reaches, and remains smaller than, a certain critical value. Upon swelling, the size of the atom is shown to increase by an order of magnitude, or more, compared to the size of the free atom. Examples of changes of photoabsorption properties of confined hydrogen atom upon its swelling are uncovered and demonstrated.