Diatoms motion

We will now treat the internal motion on the PES in cases of progressively increasing molecular complexity. We start with the simplest case of all, the diatomic molecule, where the notions of the Bom-Oppenlieimer PES and internal motion are particularly simple. 

Even with these complications due to anliannonicity, tlie vibrating diatomic molecule is a relatively simple mechanical system. In polyatomics, the problem is fiindamentally more complicated with the presence of more than two atoms. The anliannonicity leads to many extremely interestmg effects in tlie internal molecular motion, including the possibility of chaotic dynamics. 

Figure Al.2.2. Internal nuclear motions of a diatomic molecule. Top the molecule in its equilibrium configuration. Middle vibration of the molecule. Bottom rotation of the molecule.

Consider a gas of N non-interacting diatomic molecules moving in a tln-ee-dimensional system of volume V. Classically, the motion of a diatomic molecule has six degrees of freedom—tln-ee translational degrees corresponding to the centre of mass motion, two more for the rotational motion about the centre of mass and one additional degree for the vibrational motion about the centre of mass. The equipartition law gives (... 

These results do not agree with experimental results. At room temperature, while the translational motion of diatomic molecules may be treated classically, the rotation and vibration have quantum attributes. In addition, quantum mechanically one should also consider the electronic degrees of freedom. However, typical electronic excitation energies are very large compared to k T (they are of the order of a few electronvolts, and 1 eV corresponds to 10 000 K). Such internal degrees of freedom are considered frozen, and an electronic cloud in a diatomic molecule is assumed to be in its ground state f with degeneracy g. The two nuclei A and... 

Consider the collision of an atom (denoted A) with a diatomic molecule (denoted BC), with motion of the atoms constrained to occur along a line. In this case there are two important degrees of freedom, the distance R between the atom and the centre of mass of the diatomic, and the diatomic intemuclear distance r. The Flamiltonian in tenns of these coordinates is given by ... 

Condon E U 1928 Nuclear motion associated with electron transitions in diatomic molecules Phys. Rev. 32 858-72... 

There usually is rotational motion accompanying the vibrational motion, and for a diatomic, the energy as a fiuictioii of the rotational qiiantum iiumber, J, is... 

To see physically the problem of motion of wavepackets in a non-diagonal diabatic potential, we plot in figure B3.4.17 a set of two adiabatic potentials and their diabatic counterparts for a ID problem, for example, vibrations in a diatom (as in metal-metal complexes). As figure B3.4.17 shows, if a wavepacket is started away from the crossing point, it would slide towards this crossing point (where where it would... 

Figure C3.5.7. Possible modes of vibrational wavepacket (smootli Gaussian curve) motion for a highly vibrationally excited diatomic molecule produced by photodissociation of a linear triatomic such as Hglj, from [8].

As our first model problem, we take the motion of a diatomic molecule under an external force field. For simplicity, it is assumed that (i) the motion is pla nar, (ii) the two atoms have equal mass m = 1, and (iii) the chemical bond is modeled by a stiff harmonic spring with equilibrium length ro = 1. Denoting the positions of the two atoms hy e 71, i = 1,2, the corresponding Hamiltonian function is of type... 

This Schrodinger equation relates to the rotation of diatomic and linear polyatomic molecules. It also arises when treating the angular motions of electrons in any spherically symmetric potential... 

Suppose that W(r,Q) describes the radial (r) and angular (0) motion of a diatomic molecule constrained to move on a planar surface. If an experiment were performed to measure the component of the rotational angular momentum of the diatomic molecule perpendicular to the surface (Lz= -ih d/dQ), only values equal to mh (m=0,1,-1,2,-2,3,-3,...) could be observed, because these are the eigenvalues of ... 

The rotational motion of a linear polyatomic molecule can be treated as an extension of the diatomic molecule case. One obtains the Yj m (0,(1)) as rotational wavefunctions and, within the approximation in which the centrifugal potential is approximated at the equilibrium geometry of the molecule (Re), the energy levels are ... 

As given in Chapter 3, the Schrodinger equation for the angular motion of a rigid (i.e., having fixed bond length R) diatomic molecule is... 

If the rotational motion of the molecules is assumed to be entirely unhindered (e.g., by any environment or by collisions with other molecules), it is appropriate to express the time dependence of each of the dipole time correlation functions listed above in terms of a "free rotation" model. For example, when dealing with diatomic molecules, the electronic-vibrational-rotational C(t) appropriate to a specific electronic-vibrational transition becomes ... 

Just as for an atom, the hamiltonian H for a diatomic or polyatomic molecule is the sum of the kinetic energy T, or its quantum mechanical equivalent, and the potential energy V, as in Equation (1.20). In a molecule the kinetic energy T consists of contributions and from the motions of the electrons and nuclei, respectively. The potential energy comprises two terms, and F , due to coulombic repulsions between the electrons and between the nuclei, respectively, and a third term Fg , due to attractive forces between the electrons and nuclei, giving... 

Just as the electrical behaviour of a real diatomic molecule is not accurately harmonic, neither is its mechanical behaviour. The potential function, vibrational energy levels and wave functions shown in Figure f.i3 were derived by assuming that vibrational motion obeys Hooke s law, as expressed by Equation (1.63), but this assumption is reasonable only... 

Infrared spectroscopy has broad appHcations for sensitive molecular speciation. Infrared frequencies depend on the masses of the atoms iavolved ia the various vibrational motions, and on the force constants and geometry of the bonds connecting them band shapes are determined by the rotational stmcture and hence by the molecular symmetry and moments of iaertia. The rovibrational spectmm of a gas thus provides direct molecular stmctural information, resulting ia very high specificity. The vibrational spectmm of any molecule is unique, except for those of optical isomers. Every molecule, except homonuclear diatomics such as O2, N2, and the halogens, has at least one vibrational absorption ia the iafrared. Several texts treat iafrared iastmmentation and techniques (22,36—38) and thek appHcations (39—42). 

Molecules vibrate at characteristic frequencies, which depend both on the difficulty of the motion (the so-called force constant) and on the masses of the atoms involved. The more difficult the motion and the lighter the atomic masses, the higher the vibrational frequency. For a diatomic molecule the vibrational frequency is proportional to ... 

We now need to investigate the quantum-mechanical treatment of vibrational motion. Consider then a diatomic molecule with reduced mass /c- His time-independent Schrodinger equation is... 

A linear molecule, such as any diatomic molecule, carbon dioxide, and ethyne (acetylene, HC=CH), can rotate about two axes perpendicular to the line of atoms, and so it has two rotational modes of motion. Its average rotational energy is therefore 2 X jkT = kT, and the contribution to the molar internal energy is NA times this value ... 

Let us consider a diatomic molecule in such a crystal. As a first approximation we may neglect the translational oscillations of the molecule under consideration and both the translational and rotational motion of the other molecules in the crystal. The wave equation then may be written... 

Electron Nuclear Dynamics (48) departs from a variational form where the state vector is both explicitly and implicitly time-dependent. A coherent state formulation for electron and nuclear motion is given and the relevant parameters are determined as functions of time from the Euler equations that define the stationary point of the functional. Yngve and his group have currently implemented the method for a determinantal electronic wave function and products of wave packets for the nuclei in the limit of zero width, a "classical" limit. Results are coming forth protons on methane (49), diatoms in laser fields (50), protons on water (51), and charge transfer (52) between oxygen and protons. 

The application of the Bom-Oppenheimer and the adiabatic approximations to separate nuclear and electronic motions is best illustrated by treating the simplest example, a diatomic molecule in its electronic ground state. The diatomic molecule is sufficiently simple that we can also introduce center-of-mass coordinates and show explicitly how the translational motion of the molecule as a whole is separated from the internal motion of the nuclei and electrons. 

The total number of spatial coordinates for a molecule with Q nuclei and N electrons is 3(Q + N), because each particle requires three cartesian coordinates to specify its location. However, if the motion of each particle is referred to the center of mass of the molecule rather than to the external spaced-fixed coordinate axes, then the three translational coordinates that specify the location of the center of mass relative to the external axes may be separated out and eliminated from consideration. For a diatomic molecule (Q = 2) we are left with only three relative nuclear coordinates and with 3N relative electronic coordinates. For mathematical convenience, we select the center of mass of the nuclei as the reference point rather than the center of mass of the nuclei and electrons together. The difference is negligibly small. We designate the two nuclei as A and B, and introduce a new set of nuclear coordinates defined by... 

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