title: A very short uranium-uranium bond: the predicted metastable U(2)2+.
abstract: Quantum chemical calculations, based on multiconfigurational wave functions and including relativistic effects, show that the U(2)2+ system has a large number of low-lying electronic states with S of 0 to 2 and Lambda ranging from zero to ten. These states share a very small bond length of about 2.30 A, compared to 2.43 A in neutral U2. The Coulomb explosion to 2 U+ lowers the energy by only 1.6 eV and is separated by a broad barrier.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Chimica Fisica F. Accascina, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze-Parco d'Orleans II, Palermo, Italy. laura.gagliardi@unipa.it
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gagliardi
authors.forename: Pekka
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pyykkö
authors.forename: Björn O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Roos