Madelung constants of the ionic crystal structures
edit · history · discussion · files · long url · lattice sums chemistry special values physics
Numbers
structure 
$M$
rock salt:
1.747564594633182190636212035544397403485161436624741758152825350765040623532761179890758362694607890
comment: the structure type of sodium chloride
caesium chloride:
1.762674773070988397935673320638644291170528619588585280649418437727966223769340830471509458112169889
comment: the structure type of caesium chloride
zincblende:
1.638055053388789423750034776358619465360179663136657883957644623927706812837223137698546420043494665
comment: the sphalerite structure type of zinc sulfide
wurtzite:
1.641321627371949339961603745576650314091902561978161425593692629901259453012059485727890717138661625
comment: the ideal wurtzite structure with $c/a=\sqrt{8/3}$ and $u=3/8$
fluorite:
5.038784879848567245435742873355883221890887945861901048564707685583379849443787105868602298199159219
comment: the structure type of calcium fluoride
antifluorite:
5.038784879848567245435742873355883221890887945861901048564707685583379849443787105868602298199159219
comment: the anti-fluorite structure has the same value as fluorite because all formal charges are multiplied by $-1$
equals: #fluorite
cuprite:
4.442475209838955487140922680736002381256875449559986279386117428244309561257949894718062526225941987
comment: the structure type of cuprous oxide
Definition
The Madelung constant $M>0$ of a periodic arrangement of point ions carrying their formal charges is defined by $E_{\rm f.u.}=-M e^2/(4\pi\varepsilon_0 r_0)$, where $E_{\rm f.u.}$ is the electrostatic energy per formula unit and $r_0$ is the shortest cation-anion distance [2].
Parameters
structure
—   crystal structure
Formulas
(1)
For any $\alpha>0$, a neutral unit cell with volume $V$, formal charges $q_i$ at positions $r_i$, and $N_{\rm f.u.}$ formula units satisfies $M=-\frac{r_0}{N_{\rm f.u.}}\left[\frac12\sum_{i,j}\sum_n' q_iq_j\,\operatorname{erfc}(\alpha|r_i-r_j+n|)/|r_i-r_j+n| + \frac{2\pi}{V}\sum_{k\ne0}|\sum_i q_i e^{ik\cdot r_i}|^2\,e^{-|k|^2/(4\alpha^2)}/|k|^2 - \alpha\pi^{-1/2}\sum_i q_i^2\right]$, where $n$ runs over lattice translations, $k$ over nonzero reciprocal-lattice vectors, and the prime omits the term with $i=j$ and $n=0$ [1].
(2)
The rock-salt row also satisfies Benson's identity $M=12\pi\sum_{m,n\geq1,\ m,n\ {\rm odd}} \operatorname{sech}^2(\frac{\pi}{2}\sqrt{m^2+n^2})$ [3].
Comments
(3)
The sign convention puts the minus sign in the energy formula and stores $M>0$. The charges in the Ewald sum are the formal ionic charges, so the fluorite, antifluorite and cuprite rows include charge products with magnitudes larger than one.
(4)
The normalising distance is the nearest cation-anion distance. In terms of a cubic lattice parameter $a$, it is $a/2$ for rock salt, $\sqrt3 a/2$ for caesium chloride, and $\sqrt3 a/4$ for zincblende, fluorite, antifluorite and cuprite.
(5)
The wurtzite row is the ideal wurtzite structure with $c/a=\sqrt{8/3}$ and internal coordinate $u=3/8$, so $r_0=a\sqrt{3/8}$. Rutile, anatase and corundum are not included because their Madelung constants depend on structural parameters whose values vary from compound to compound, whereas ideal wurtzite has a conventional parameter choice.
References
[1]
P. P. Ewald, Die Berechnung optischer und elektrostatischer Gitterpotentiale, Annalen der Physik 369 (1921), no. 3, 253-287. (doi)
Links
Similar tables
Watson integrals of the cubic lattices —   another lattice-sum table; its sums are random-walk return sums on cubic lattices, while these are Coulomb sums over periodic charged arrangements
Packing densities and Hermite numbers of the classical lattices —   records geometric invariants of the classical lattices that underlie several of these crystal structures
Kissing numbers $\tau_n$ —   both use nearest-neighbour geometry of lattice arrangements; here the nearest cation-anion distance normalises an all-pair Coulomb sum
Data properties
Entries are of type: real number
Table is complete: no (it holds rock salt, caesium chloride, zincblende, ideal wurtzite, fluorite, antifluorite and cuprite, not every ionic crystal structure)
How they were obtained:

The generator computes the neutral-cell Ewald sum in arb ball arithmetic with $\alpha=4$, including explicit upper bounds for the omitted real-space and reciprocal-space tails. It writes $100$ digits.

more

The rock-salt row was checked against Benson's rapidly convergent $\operatorname{sech}^2$ series [3]. The rows for rock salt, caesium chloride, zincblende, fluorite, cuprite and ideal wurtzite were checked against published prefixes in [3] and [4].