Path-integral molecular-dynamics calculation of the conduction-band energy of excess electrons in fluid argon

Path-integral molecular-dynamics simulations are used to calculate the energy V/sub 0/ of excess electrons in liquid argon at various densities in the gas-phase region. Using the same electron-argon interaction potential, V/sub 0/ is also calculated within the framework of the Wigner-Seitz model. Both calculations agree with experiment. The excess electron is found to be delocalized over about a thousand atoms, which could explain why the Wigner-Seitz mean-field calculation agrees so well with the measured data. >