Quantum effects, vibrational spectrum

The approach to the evaluation of vibrational spectra described above is based on classical simulations for which quantum corrections are possible. The incorporation of quantum effects directly in simulations of large molecular systems is one of the most challenging areas in theoretical chemistry today. The development of quantum simulation methods is particularly important in the area of molecular spectroscopy for which quantum effects can be important and where the goal is to use simulations to help understand the structural and dynamical origins of changes in spectral lineshapes with environmental variables such as the temperature. The direct evaluation of quantum time- correlation functions for anharmonic systems is extremely difficult. Our initial approach to the evaluation of finite temperature anharmonic effects on vibrational lineshapes is derived from the fact that the moments of the vibrational lineshape spectrum can be expressed as functions of expectation values of positional and momentum operators. These expectation values can be evaluated using extremely efficient quantum Monte-Carlo techniques. The main points are summarized below. 

Two of the more direct techniques used in the study of lattice dynamics of crystals have been the scattering of neutrons and of x-rays from crystals. In addition, the phonon vibrational spectrum can be inferred from careful analysis of measurements of specific heat and elastic constants. In studies of Bragg reflection of x-rays (which involves no loss of energy to the lattice), it was found that temperature has a strong influence on the intensity of the reflected lines. The intensity of the scattered x-rays as a function of temperature can be expressed by I (T) = IQ e"2Tr(r) where 2W(T) is called the Debye-Waller factor. Similarly in the Mossbauer effect, gamma rays are emitted or absorbed without loss of energy and without change in the quantum state of the lattice by... 

Mixed quantum-classical simulation using the DME method was performed in the gas phase and in a chloroform solution [34]. The effects of deuteration were also considered. The vibrational spectrum was calculated by Fourier... 

Figure 20. The (So —> S2) absorption spectrum of pyrazine for reduced three- and four-dimensional models (left and middle panels) and for a complete 24-vibrational model (right panel). For the three- and four-dimensional models, the exact quantum mechanical results (full line) are obtained using the Fourier method [43,45]. For the 24-dimensional model (nearly converged), quantum mechanical results are obtained using version 8 of the MCTDH program [210]. For all three models, the calculations are done in the diabatic representation. In the multiple spawning calculations (dashed lines) the spawning threshold 0,o) is set to 0.05, the initial size of the basis set for the three-, four-, and 24-dimensional models is 20, 40, and 60, and the total number of basis functions is limited to 900 (i.e., regardless of the magnitude of the effective nonadiabatic coupling, we do not spawn new basis functions once the total number of basis functions reaches 900).

One way to include these local quantum chemical effects is to perform ab initio calculations on an HOD molecule in a cluster of water molecules, possibly in the field of the point charges of the water molecules surrounding the cluster. In 1991 Hermansson generated such clusters from a Monte Carlo simulation of the liquid, and for each one she determined the relevant Bom Oppenheimer potential and the vibrational frequencies. The transition-dipole-weigh ted histogram of frequencies was in rough agreement with the experimental IR spectrum for H0D/D20 [130],... 

The rotation-vibration interaction of Section 4.32 produces different effects in nonlinear molecules than those discussed in the previous section. In nonlinear molecules the quantum numbers are vavhvcKJM >. The connection between the group quantum numbers Ico , co2> xi > 2 -A 3/ > and the usual quantum numbers is given by Eq. (4.85). The different effect can be traced to the different nature of the rotational spectrum. In lowest order, the spectrum of a bent molecule is given by Eq. (4.107) and Figure 4.21. The rotation-vibration interaction introduces terms with selection rules... 

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