We study numerically the dynamical system of a two-electron atom with the Darwin interaction as a model to investigate scale-dependent effects of the relativistic action-at-a-distance electrodynamics. This dynamical system consists of a small perturbation of the Coulomb dynamics for energies in the atomic range. The key properties of the Coulomb dynamics are (i) a peculiar mixed-type phase space with sparse families of stable nonionizing orbits and (ii) scale-invariance symmetry, with all orbits defined by an arbitrary scale parameter. The combination of this peculiar chaotic dynamics [(i) and (ii)], with the scale-dependent relativistic corrections (Darwin interaction), generates the phenomenon of scale-dependent stability: We find numerical evidence that stable nonionizing orbits can exist only for a discrete set of resonant energies. The Fourier transform of these nonionizing orbits is a set of sharp frequencies. The energies and sharp frequencies of the nonionizing orbits we study are in the quantum atomic range.

• Received 2 March 2000

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.62.2060