Long-range effects of molecular interactions on the polarizability of atoms

The polarizability of a pair of atoms is expressed as a sum of the classical multipole-interaction contribution and the intrinsic polarizabilities of the distorted atoms. A model relating the change in the intrinsic polarizability to atomic hyper-polarizabilities is extended and found to give good agreement with accurate values for both parallel and perpendicular components of the polarizabilities varying as the inverse sixth power of the separation R of pairs of hydrogen and helium atoms. The mean polarizability varying as R-8 is also well represented by the model. (Auth.)