EXTENSION OF THE GRADIENT EFFECT ON EIGENENERGIES TO THE “ELECTRIC STERN-GERLACH” EFFECT WITH SQUARE OF THE LINEARIZED FIELD

Abstract

In this paper, we constructed a solution of the Schrödinger equation for the ammonia molecule, modeled as a particle with a permanent electric dipole moment, which can access only two quantum states, as part of a beam of these molecules entering a region where an electrostatic field with a weak gradient act. In this solution, the contribution of the electric field gradient to the eigenenergies of the molecule stands out in the context of linearization of the square of one of the components of the electrostatic field. This result indicates that the analogy established between the spatial separation of this beam of molecules and the spatial separation of silver atoms in the inhomogeneous magnetic field in the Stern-Gerlach effect is not limited only
to spatial separation; the gradient effect on eigenenergies, recently identified in the Stern-Gerlach case, also manifests itself in the case of ammonia molecules in an inhomogeneous electrostatic field.