Interatomic potential for the condensed phases of helium atoms

Abstract

Results from diffusion Monte Carlo have been used in fits of a damping function of the triple dipole and of the intensity of the exchange three-body interactions. The equations of state obtained considering this three-body potential are in excellent agreement with experiment both at the solid and liquid phases. The calculations show that exchange nonadditivities that contribute less than 0.2% of the two-body potential energy in the solid phase are needed to describe the properties of a system of helium atoms.