Nuclear magnetic shielding and diamagnetic susceptibility of interacting hydrogen atoms

A quantum-mechanical study is made of the changes of the nuclear magnetic screening constant σ and the diamagnetic susceptibility X of two interacting hydrogen atoms due to van der Waals and overlap interatomic forces (effects of electron spin being neglected). At large distances the calculations show that van der Waals forces decrease the nuclear screening but increase the diamagnetic susceptibility (in magnitude). As the internuclear distance is reduced the first effect of overlap forces is to increase the screening in the repulsive (electronic triplet) state but this is followed by a further reduction. Attractive overlap forces (as in the ground state of H₂) ultimately lead to an increase in screening.