Strongly localized quantum crystalline states and behaviour of the dilute jellium model

We name strongly localized quantum crystalline state (SLQCS) a determinantal wave-function of the single-particle wave-functions obtained by crystalline translations of a wave-function different from zero only within a primitive cell of the considered quantum crystalline phase. SLQCSs accurately reproduce the low density behaviour of the quantum crystals that, as Wigner’s crystalline phase of the jellium model, can become very dilute. Our analysis explicitly deals with this system. We show that the SLQCS energy per particle at large dilution (rs) behaves as −Mdl,σ/rs + Cσ/rs , where Mdl,σ turns out to be the Madelung constant of the considered cubic symmetry σ and Cσ is a positive constant only numerically determined. Moreover, as the density gets smaller and smaller, each electron becomes more and more confined to the centre of its cell. PCAS: 05.30.-w, 71.10.Ca, 71.15.Nc, 73.20.Qt