What Is the Shape of the Helium Trimer? A Comparison with the Neon and Argon Trimers

Despite its apparent simplicity and extensive theoretical investigations, the issue of what is the shape of the helium trimer is still debated in the literature. After reviewing previous conflicting interpretations of computational studies, we introduce the angle?angle distribution function as a tool to discuss in a simple way the shape of any trimer. We compute this function along with many different geometrical distributions using variational and diffusion Monte Carlo methods. We compare them with the corresponding ones for the neon and argon trimers. Our analysis shows that while Ne3 and Ar3 fluctuate around an equilibrium structure that is an equilateral triangle, 4He3 shows an extremely broad angle?angle distribution function, and all kinds of three-atom configurations must be taken into account in its description. Classifying 4He3 as either equilateral or linear or any other particular shape, as was done in the past, is not sensible, because in this case the intuitive notion of equilibrium structure is ill defined. Our results could help the interpretation of future experiments aimed at measuring the geometrical properties of the helium trimer.