Potential energy vibration treatment

The concept of a potential energy surface has appeared in several chapters. Just to remind you, we make use of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation to separate the total (electron plus nuclear) wavefunction into a nuclear wavefunction and an electronic wavefunction. To calculate the electronic wavefunction, we regard the nuclei as being clamped in position. To calculate the nuclear wavefunction, we have to solve the relevant nuclear Schrddinger equation. The nuclei vibrate in the potential generated by the electrons. Don t confuse the nuclear Schrddinger equation (a quantum-mechanical treatment) with molecular mechanics (a classical treatment). 

It is clear that nonconfigurational factors are of great importance in the formation of solid and liquid metal solutions. Leaving aside the problem of magnetic contributions, the vibrational contributions are not understood in such a way that they may be embodied in a statistical treatment of metallic solutions. It would be helpful to have measurements both of ACP and A a. (where a is the thermal expansion coefficient) for the solution process as a function of temperature in order to have an idea of the relative importance of changes in the harmonic and the anharmonic terms in the potential energy of the lattice. 

In the vibrational treatment we assumed, as usually done, that the Born-Oppenheimer separation is possible and that the electronic energy as a function of the internuclear variables can be taken as a potential in the equation of the internal motions of the nuclei. The vibrational anharmonic functions are obtained by means of a variational treatment in the basis of the harmonic solutions for the vibration considered (for more details about the theory see Pauzat et al [20]). 

Hobza, P., Bludsky, O. Suhai, S., 1999, Reliable Theoretical Treatment of Molecular Clusters Counterpoise-Corrected Potential Energy Surface and Anharmonic Vibrational Frequencies of the Water Dimer , Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 1, 3073. 

The statistical treatment of the vibrational degrees of freedom of crystals is far more difficult compared to gases. Let us initially consider a monoatomic crystal. An atom in a crystal vibrates about its equilibrium lattice position. In the simplest approach, three non-interacting superimposed linear harmonic oscillators represent the vibrations of each atom. The total energy, given by the sum of the kinetic and potential energies for the harmonic oscillators, is... 

Here, we review an adiabatic approximation for the statistical mechanics of a stiff quantum mechanical system, in which vibrations of the hard coordinates are first treated quantum mechanically, while treating the more slowly evolving soft coordinates and momenta for this purpose as parameters, and in which the constrained free energy obtained by summing over vibrational quantum states is then used as a potential energy in a classical treatment of the soft coordinates and momenta. 

The Section on Molecular Rotation and Vibration provides an introduction to how vibrational and rotational energy levels and wavefunctions are expressed for diatomic, linear polyatomic, and non-linear polyatomic molecules whose electronic energies are described by a single potential energy surface. Rotations of "rigid" molecules and harmonic vibrations of uncoupled normal modes constitute the starting point of such treatments. 

So far we have illustrated the classic and quantum mechanical treatment of the harmonic oscillator. The potential energy of a vibrator changes periodically as the distance between the masses fluctuates. In terms of qualitative considerations, however, this description of molecular vibration appears imperfect. For example, as two atoms approach one another, Coulombic repulsion between the two nuclei adds to the bond force thus, potential energy can be expected to increase more rapidly than predicted by harmonic approximation. At the other extreme of oscillation, a decrease in restoring force, and thus potential energy, occurs as interatomic distance approaches that at which the bonds dissociate. 

The wavepacket calculation for the femtosecond pump-probe experiment presented in Fig. 16 (bottom) is the result of the first consistent ab initio treatment for three coupled potential-energy surfaces in the complete three-dimensional vibrational space of the Naa molecule. In order to simulate the experimental femtosecond ion signal, the experimental pulse parameters were used duration A/fWhm = 120 fs, intensity I - 520 MW/cm2, and central... 

The most satisfactory treatment of the reactions of interest in this chapter is in terms of classical trajectories on potential energy surfaces. They provide a detailed consideration of the reactive interaction (for which the kinematic models are limiting cases7), and provide ample scope for the theoretician to apply his intuition in explaining reactive molecular collisions. Reactions are naturally divided into those which take place on a single surface, usually leading to vibrational excitation, and those which involve two or more surfaces, often leading to electronic excitation. 

---