Ab initio calculation of argon-argon potential

We present a high-quality ab initio calculation of the potential energy of interaction of two argon atoms using the method of interacting correlated fragments (ICF). The resulting potential has well depth within about 15% of the experimental value and is expected to be relatively accurate in the repulsive region where it is reasonably close to the most recent potential from high-energy scattering data and in reasonable agreement with experimental gas viscosities. Comparison is made with several experimental and partly experimental potentials and also with high-pressure solid state data using several assumptions concerning the nature of many-body interactions in the solid. © 1988 American Institute of Physics.