Density Matrix Renormalization Group Study of a One Dimensional Diatomic Molecule beyond the Born-Oppenheimer Approximation

Abstract

We study one dimensional models of diatomic molecules where both the electrons and nuclei are treated as quantum particles, going beyond the usual Born-Oppenheimer approximation. The continuous system is approximated by a grid which computationally resembles a ladder, with the electrons living on one leg and the nuclei on the other. To simulate DMRG efficiently with this system, a three-site algorithm has been implemented. We also use a compression method to treat the long-range interactions between charged particles. We find that 1D diatomic molecules with spin-1/2 nuclei in the spin-triplet state will unbind when the mass of the nuclei reduces to only a few times larger than the electron mass, while the molecule with nuclei in the singlet state always binds, given the two electrons in their singlet state in both cases.