Ground electronic surface, diatomic molecule

If the electrons occupy orbitals different from the most stable (ground) electronic state, the bonding between the atoms also changes. Therefore, an entirely different potential energy surface is produced for each new electronic configuration. This is illustrated in Figure 6.6 for a diatomic molecule. 

In the general case R denotes a set of coordinates, and Ui(R) and Uf (R) are potential energy surfaces with a high dimension. However, the essential features can be understood from the simplest case, which is that of a diatomic molecule that loses one electron. Then Ui(R) is the potential energy curve for the ground state of the molecule, and Uf(R) that of the ion (see Fig. 19.2). If the ion is stable, which will be true for outer-sphere electron-transfer reactions, Uf(R) has a stable minimum, and its general shape will be similar to that of Ui(R). We can then apply the harmonic approximation to both states, so that the nuclear Hamiltonians Hi and Hf that correspond to Ui and Uf are sums of harmonic oscillator terms. To simplify the mathematics further, we make two additional assumptions ... 

One of the most important characteristics of molecular systems is their behavior as a function of the nuclear coordinates. The most important molecular property is total energy of the system which, as a function of the nuclear coordinates, is called the potential energy (hyper)surface, an obvious generalization of the potential energy curve in diatomics. Other expectation values as functions of the nuclear coordinates are frequently called property surfaces. The notion of the total molecular energy in a given electronic state, which depends only parametrically on the nuclear coordinates, is based on the fixed-nuclei approximation. In most cases (e.g. closed-shell molecules in the ground electronic state and in a low vibrational state) this is an excellent approximation. Even when it breaks down, the most convenient treatment is based on the fixed-nuclei picture, i.e. on the assumption that the nuclear mass is infinite compared with the electronic mass. 

Of course, this latter type of constraint may only be readily used for molecules whose ground electronic state correlates with the ground state of the atom obtained in the collapsed diatom limit. However, its use in such cases should yield a much better knowledge of the -dependence of the associated potential energy surfaces than could otherwise have been possible (9,10). 

The energy disposal and effective upper state lifetimes have been reproduced using classical trajectory calculations a quasi-diatomic assumption was made to determine the slope of the section through the upper potential energy surface along the N—a bond from the shape of the u.v. absorption profile. The only adjustable parameter was the assumption of a parallel transition in the quasi-diatomic molecule. In contrast, a statistical adiabatic channel model which assumed dissociation via unimolecular decomposition out of vibrationally and rotationally excited level in the ground electronic state (following internal con-... 

Since nuiny processses demonstrate substantial quantum effects of tunneling, wave packet break-up and interference, and, obviously, discrete energy spectra, symmetry induced selection rules, etc., it is clearly desirable to develop meAods by which more complex dynamical problems can be solved quantum mechanically both accurately and efficiently. There is a reciprocity between the number of particles which can be treated quantum mechanically and die number of states of impcxtance. Thus the ground states of many electron systems can be determined as can the bound state (and continuum) dynamics of diatomic molecules. Our focus in this manuscript will be on nuclear dynamics of few particle systems which are not restricted to small amplitude motion. This can encompass vibrational states and isomerizations of triatomic molecules, photodissociation and exchange reactions of triatomic systems, some atom-surface collisions, etc. 

The Bond Potential. A notably successful guess of the analytic form of a BO surface of diatomic molecules is due to Morse (1929), who proposed the function now called the Morse potential, for the electronic ground state of a diatomic molecule as a function of its bond length b, over the whole range of inter-atomic distances,... 

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