ELECTRONIC INTERACTIONS IN FULLERENE SPHERES

The electron-phonon and Coulomb interactions in C60 and larger fullerene spheres are analyzed. The coupling between electrons and intramolecular vibrations give corrections approximately 1-10 meV to the electronic energies for C60, and scales as R-4 in larger molecules where R is the radius of the fullerene sphere. The energies associated with electrostatic interactions are of order approximately 1-4 eV in C60 and scale as R-1. Charged fullerenes show enhanced electron-phonon coupling, approximately 10 meV, which scales as R-2. Finally, it is argued that not only C60-, but also C60(2-) are highly polarizable molecules. The polarizabilities scale as R3 and R4, respectively. The role of this large polarizability in mediating intermolecular interactions is also discussed.