AxilrodTellerMutoterm
The Axilrod–Teller–Muto term, often abbreviated as ATM term, is a three-body contribution to the long-range dispersion energy between three atoms or molecules. It represents the leading non-additive correction to the pairwise van der Waals (London) interactions and arises from correlated instantaneous dipole fluctuations among the three bodies. The term is a standard component of high-accuracy potential energy surfaces and is used in quantum chemistry and molecular simulations to improve predictions of binding energies and structures in weakly bound systems.
Mathematically, the ATM energy for three atoms with interatomic distances r12, r23, and r31 and interior angles
Applications and context: The ATM term is especially relevant for noble-gas clusters, molecular crystals, and condensed-phase