Nonrelativistic ab initio calculation of the interaction potentials between metastable Ne atoms - art. no. 042712

We compute nonrelativistic ab initio electronic potential surfaces for two metastable 2p(5) 3s neon atoms using a multiconfiguration all-electron vale nce-bond method. Spectroscopic constants and long-range C-6 dispersion coef ficients are presented for (3'5)Sigma(g/u), (3'5)Pi (g/u), and (1'3'5)Delta (g/u) symmetries. In addition, we analyze the role of various atomic config urations in the formation of the neon dimer. Our results can be used to mod el the suppression of collision-induced ionization of metastable neon, whic h is believed to be a good candidate for Bose-Einstein condensation.