The effect of long-range three-body forces on the zero-point energy of the inert gas solids

Abstract

The contributions to the zero-point vibrational and static lattice energies from a long-range three-body interaction potential of the form given by Axilrod and Teller are calculated for neon, argon, krypton and xenon. It is shown that for the last three the contribution to the vibrational energy is of the same order as the two-body anharmonic contribution and of opposite sign.