Self-consistent determination of critical two-centre distances

Abstract

In collisions of very heavy ions (Z1+Z2 greater than 173) the binding energy of the quasimolecular 1s sigma state may exceed twice the electron rest mass. The critical internuclear separation is calculated within the relativistic Hartree-Fock-Slater model. For the almost neutral U-U system, the authors obtained Rcr=26 fm.