Environmental effects on atomic energy levels

This paper considers environmental effects both on the ground-state charge distribution and on the different energy levels of a hydrogen atom. The medium is represented by a continuous dielectric, and the effect of the polarization of this medium is computed, using both a simplified self-consistent-field variational treatment, and also a perturbation calculation. The dielectric effects of the medium are compared with similar results based on discrete molecular models, taking into account both dispersion and overlap-repulsion forces. The dielectric effects on the ground-state charge distribution are of the same order of magnitude as the effects due to dispersion forces. The dielectric effects on Rydberg-type electronic transitions lead to blue shifts. This conclusion is in agreement with some recent experimental results.