Path-integral calculation of the third dielectric virial coefficient of noble gases

Abstract: We present the first framework for fully quantum calculation of the third dielectric virial coefficient $C_\varepsilon(T)$ of noble gases, including exchange effects. The quantum effects are taken into account with the path-integral Monte Carlo method. Calculations employing state-of-the-art pair and three-body potentials and pair polarizabilities yield results generally consistent with the few scattered experimental data available for helium, neon, and argon, but rigorous calculations with well-described uncertainties will require the development of surfaces for the three-body nonadditive polarizability and the three-body dipole moment. The framework developed here will enable new approaches to primary temperature and pressure metrology based on first-principles calculations of gas properties.