# chem: a 'ghost' bond with a partner that isn't there

<< A peculiar type of atom can be induced to form a ‘ghost’ chemical bond with a nonexistent atom, according to new calculations. >>

<< A highly excited atom that includes a loosely bound electron has the weird ability to form 'trilobite' chemical bonds. Such bonds are created by the small attraction between the electron and a second atom in its lowest energy state. The electron is most often found at long distances from its host nucleus, 'reaching out' to the second atom. A visualization of the electron’s likely location in this ultra-long-range bond depicts a series of elongated shells that resemble the segments of an extinct sea animal called a trilobite. >>

<< Through computer simulations, [AA] found that the same effect can be engineered even in the absence of the second atom by exposing the excited atom to a rapid series of electric and magnetic pulses. In the resultant ghost chemical bond, the excited electron appears to reach out to the nonexistent second atom. Such a bond could be formed in a laboratory setting, the authors write. >>

How an atom forms a 'ghost' bond with a partner that isn't there. Nature. Sep 21, 2018

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06745-y

<< The existence of such a ghost chemical bond in which an electron reaches out from one atom to a nonexistent second atom is a consequence of the high level degeneracy. >>

Matthew T. Eiles, Zhengjia Tong, Chris H. Greene. Theoretical Prediction of the Creation and Observation of a Ghost Trilobite Chemical Bond. Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 113203. Sep 12, 2018.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.113203