A recent theoretical paper [Guo, Wrinn, and Whitehead, Phys. Rev. A 40, 6685 (1989)] predicted the existence of ground-state bound negative ions of all the noble gases. In addition, experimental observations [Haberland, Kolar, and Reiners, Phys. Rev. Lett. 63, 1219 (1989)] suggest the existence of long-lived ${\mathrm{Xe}}^{\mathrm{-}}$. We have examined the cases of ${\mathrm{He}}^{\mathrm{-}}$ and ${\mathrm{Xe}}^{\mathrm{-}}$. For ${\mathrm{He}}^{\mathrm{-}}$, we employed Levinson’s theorem in conjunction with published and reliable theoretical e-He elastic-scattering phase-shift results. For ${\mathrm{Xe}}^{\mathrm{-}}$, we employed electron-correlation theory in conjunction with multiconfigurational Hartree-Fock and variational bound-state calculations of total energies. We conclude that these ions do not exist in a ground configuration.

• Received 24 January 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.44.2217