Two-electron systems: Stability analysis of the Wannier ridge.

Abstract

We examine the stability of classical two-electron systems with an electron moving along elliptic orbits on the Wannier ridge. Lyapunov exponents are evaluated analytically for circular orbits within the first-order perturbation theory. In the case of the helium atom, these results compare favorably with numerical values obtained by means of the monodromy matrix method.