Nuclear-motion

The Schrodinger equation for nuclear motion contains a Hamiltonian operator Hop,nuc consisting of the nuclear kinetic energy and a potential energy term which is Eeiec(S) of Equation 2.7. Thus 

The time-independent Schrodinger equation (SE) for a molecular system derives from Hamiltonian classical dynamics and includes atomic nuclei as well as electrons. Eigenfunctions are therefore functions of both electronic and nuclear coordinates. Very often, however, the nuclear and electronic variables can be separated. The motion of the heavy particles may be treated using classical mechanics. Particularly at high temperatures, the Heisenberg uncertainty relation Ap Ax /i/2 is easy to satisfy for atomic nuclei, which have a particle mass at least 1836 times the electron mass. The immediate problem for us is to obtain a time-independent SE including not only the electrons but also the nuclei and subsequently solve the separation problem. 

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Although a separation of electronic and nuclear motion provides an important simplification and appealing qualitative model for chemistry, the electronic Sclirodinger equation is still fomiidable. Efforts to solve it approximately and apply these solutions to the study of spectroscopy, stmcture and chemical reactions fonn the subject of what is usually called electronic structure theory or quantum chemistry. The starting point for most calculations and the foundation of molecular orbital theory is the independent-particle approximation. 

The result is that, to a very good approxunation, as treated elsewhere in this Encyclopedia, the nuclei move in a mechanical potential created by the much more rapid motion of the electrons. The electron cloud itself is described by the quantum mechanical theory of electronic structure. Since the electronic and nuclear motion are approximately separable, the electron cloud can be described mathematically by the quantum mechanical theory of electronic structure, in a framework where the nuclei are fixed. The resulting Bom-Oppenlieimer potential energy surface (PES) created by the electrons is the mechanical potential in which the nuclei move. Wlien we speak of the internal motion of molecules, we therefore mean essentially the motion of the nuclei, which contain most of the mass, on the molecular potential energy surface, with the electron cloud rapidly adjusting to the relatively slow nuclear motion. 

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.

Sawada S and Metiu H 1986 A multiple trajectory theory for curve crossing problems obtained by using a Gaussian wave packet representation of the nuclear motion J. Chem. Phys. 84 227-38... 

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

Vos M H, Rappaport F, Lambry J-C, Breton J and Martin J-L 1993 Visualization of the coherent nuclear motion in a membrane protein by femtosecond spectroscopy Nature 363 320-5... 

The close-coupling equations are also applicable to electron-molecule collision but severe computational difficulties arise due to the large number of rotational and vibrational channels that must be retained in the expansion for the system wavefiinction. In the fixed nuclei approximation, the Bom-Oppenlieimer separation of electronic and nuclear motion pennits electronic motion and scattering amplitudes f, (R) to be detemiined at fixed intemuclear separations R. Then in the adiabatic nuclear approximation the scattering amplitude for ... 

The study of quautum effects associated with nuclear motion is a distinct field of chemistry, known as quantum molecular dynamics. This section gives an overview of the methodology of the field for fiirtlier reading, consult [1, 2, 3, 4 and 5,]. 

The simplest approach to simulating non-adiabatic dynamics is by surface hopping [175. 176]. In its simplest fomi, the approach is as follows. One carries out classical simulations of the nuclear motion on a specific adiabatic electronic state (ground or excited) and at any given instant checks whether the diabatic potential associated with that electronic state is mtersectmg the diabatic potential on another electronic state. If it is, then a decision is made as to whedier a jump to the other adiabatic electronic state should be perfomied. 

Mead C A and Truhlar D G 1979 On the determination of Born-Oppenheimer nuclear motion wave functions including complications due to conical intersections and identical nuclei J. Chem. Phys. 70 2284... 

With tlie development of femtosecond laser teclmology it has become possible to observe in resonance energy transfer some apparent manifestations of tire coupling between nuclear and electronic motions. For example in photosyntlietic preparations such as light-harvesting antennae and reaction centres [32, 46, 47 and 49] such observations are believed to result eitlier from oscillations between tire coupled excitonic levels of dimers (generally multimers), or tire nuclear motions of tire cliromophores. This is a subject tliat is still very much open to debate, and for extensive discussion we refer tire reader for example to [46, 47, 50, 51 and 55]. A simplified view of tire subject can nonetlieless be obtained from tire following semiclassical picture. 

In light of tire tlieory presented above one can understand tliat tire rate of energy delivery to an acceptor site will be modified tlirough tire influence of nuclear motions on tire mutual orientations and distances between donors and acceptors. One aspect is tire fact tliat ultrafast excitation of tire donor pool can lead to collective motion in tire excited donor wavepacket on tire potential surface of tire excited electronic state. Anotlier type of collective nuclear motion, which can also contribute to such observations, relates to tire low-frequency vibrations of tire matrix stmcture in which tire chromophores are embedded, as for example a protein backbone. In tire latter case tire matrix vibration effectively causes a collective motion of tire chromophores togetlier, witliout direct involvement on tire wavepacket motions of individual cliromophores. For all such reasons, nuclear motions cannot in general be neglected. In tliis connection it is notable tliat observations in protein complexes of low-frequency modes in tlie... 

The stoi7 begins with studies of the molecular Jahn-Teller effect in the late 1950s [1-3]. The Jahn-Teller theorems themselves [4,5] are 20 years older and static Jahn-Teller distortions of elecbonically degenerate species were well known and understood. Geomebic phase is, however, a dynamic phenomenon, associated with nuclear motions in the vicinity of a so-called conical intersection between potential energy surfaces. 

Here, the first factor (r, R) in the sum is one of the solutions of the electronic BO equation and its partner in the sum, Xt(R) is the solution of the following equation for the nuclear motion, with total eigenvalue... 

The effective potential matrix for nuclear motion, which is a diagonal matrix for the adiabatic electronic set, is given by... 

Now the Lagrangean associated with the nuclear motion is not invariant under a local gauge transformation. Eor this to be the case, the Lagrangean needs to include also an interaction field. This field can be represented either as a vector field (actually a four-vector, familiar from electromagnetism), or as a tensorial, YM type field. Whatever the form of the field, there are always two parts to it. First, the field induced by the nuclear motion itself and second, an externally induced field, actually produced by some other particles E, R, which are not part of the original formalism. (At our convenience, we could include these and then these would be part of the extended coordinates r, R. The procedure would then result in the appearance of a potential interaction, but not having the field. ) At a first glance, the field (whether induced internally... 

However, this procedure depends on the existence of the matrix G(R) (or of any pure gauge) that predicates the expansion in Eq. (90) for a full electronic set. Operationally, this means the preselection of a full electionic set in Eq. (129). When the preselection is only to a partial, truncated electronic set, then the relaxation to the truncated nuclear set in Eq. (128) will not be complete. Instead, the now tmncated set in Eq. (128) will be subject to a YM force F. It is not our concern to fully describe the dynamics of the truncated set under a YM field, except to say (as we have already done above) that it is the expression of the residual interaction of the electronic system on the nuclear motion. 

Let us define x (R>.) as an n-dimensional nuclear motion column vector, whose components are Xi (R i) through X (R )- The n-electronic-state nuclear motion Schrodinger equation satisfied by (Rl) can be obtained by inserting Eqs. (12)... 

This makes it desirable to define other representations in addition to the electronically adiabatic one [Eqs. (9)-(12)], in which the adiabatic electronic wave function basis set used in the Bom-Huang expansion (12) is replaced by another basis set of functions of the electronic coordinates. Such a different electronic basis set can be chosen so as to minimize the above mentioned gradient term. This term can initially be neglected in the solution of the / -electionic-state nuclear motion Schrodinger equation and reintroduced later using perturbative or other methods, if desired. This new basis set of electronic wave functions can also be made to depend parametrically, like their adiabatic counterparts, on the internal nuclear coordinates q that were defined after Eq. (8). This new electronic basis set is henceforth refened to as diabatic and, as is obvious, leads to an electronically diabatic representation that is not unique unlike the adiabatic one, which is unique by definition. 

U(qJ is referred to as an adiabatic-to-diabatic transformation (ADT) matrix. Its mathematical sbucture is discussed in detail in Section in.C. If the electronic wave functions in the adiabatic and diabatic representations are chosen to be real, as is normally the case, U(q ) is orthogonal and therefore has n n — l)/2 independent elements (or degrees of freedom). This transformation mabix U(qO can be chosen so as to yield a diabatic electronic basis set with desired properties, which can then be used to derive the diabatic nuclear motion Schrodinger equation. By using Eqs. (27) and (28) and the orthonormality of the diabatic and adiabatic electronic basis sets, we can relate the adiabatic and diabatic nuclear wave functions through the same n-dimensional unitary transformation matrix U(qx) according to... 

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