Ab initio study of He-He interactions in homogeneous electron gas

We have investigated the immersion energy of a single He and the He-He interactions in homogeneous electron gas using ab initio calculations. It is found that He dislikes electrons and He-He interact via the He induced Friedel oscillations of electron densities. A critical electron density at which the global binding energy extremum shifts from the first minimum to the second one is identified. We also discover that the He-He global binding energy minimum of ∼−0.09 eV is reached at an optimal electron density of 0.04 e/Å3, corresponding to an optimal He-He separation of ∼1.7 Å. Further, the He atoms are found to gain a trivial amount of 2s and 2p states from the free electrons, inducing a hybridization between the He s- and p-states. The present results can qualitatively interpret the well-known He self-trapping behavior in metals.