States of a hydrogen atom in an impenetrable cubic cavity

Abstract

Changes in the relative positions of energy levels of a hydrogen atom placed into an impenetrable cubic cavity under both variations of the cavity size and nuclear displacements off the center alongside the fourfold symmetry axes are studied. Numerical estimates for the energies of the states corresponding to 1s, 2s, 2p, 3d states in the free atom, are performed using the collocation method for cavities with edge lengths within 1 to 6 au. Qualitative methods that may be used to analyze the changes in the atomic states in a cubic cavity under variations of its form or nuclear displacements are discussed.