Shannon entropy: a study of confined hydrogenic-like atoms

Abstract

The Shannon entropy in the atomic, molecular and chemical physics context is presented by using as test cases the hydrogenic-like atoms $H_c$, ${He_c}^+$ and ${Li_c}^{2+}$ confined by an impenetrable spherical box. Novel expressions for entropic uncertainty relation and Shannon entropies $S_r$ and $S_p$ are proposed to ensure their physical dimensionless characteristic. The electronic ground state energy and the quantities $S_r$, $S_p$ and $S_t$ are calculated for the hydrogenic-like atoms to different confinement radii by using a variational method. The global behavior of these quantities and different conjectures are analyzed. The results are compared, when available, with those previously published.