Symmetric properties electronic wave function

The above is a well-understood problem of the BO approximation, and the most accurate calculations of molecular properties takes this into account. A less well understood difference between the physical and chemical pictures is that, in the physical picture, the ground state of any molecule is spherically symmetric. This may be understood in the chemical picture by noting that when all degrees of freedom are taken into account, the total wave function contains the nuclear vibratrional and rotational wave functions as well as the electronic wave function ... 

In the molecular orbital theory and electronic spectroscopy we are interested in the electronic wave functions of the molecules. Since each of the symmetry operations of the point group carries the molecule into a physically equivalent configuration, any physically observable property of the molecule must remain unchanged by the symmetry operation. Energy of the molecule is one such property and the Hamiltonian must be unchanged by any symmetry operation of the point group. This is only possible if the symmetry operator has values 1. Hence, the only possible wave functions of the molecules are those which are either symmetric or antisymmetric towards the symmetry operations of the... 

The amplitude fu is antisymmetric with respect to interchange of the nuclei, which is a direct reflection of the symmetry property of the corresponding electronic wave function. This implies that the cross section need not be symmetric about 0CM = 9O°. We can define a scattering amplitude fd(6) for direct scattering... 

In this set the functions can be classified into two types in the right column the spatial multiplier is symmetric with respect to transpositions of the spatial coordinates and the spin multiplier is antisymmetric with respect to transpositions of the spin coordinates in the left column the spatial multiplier is antisymmetric with respect to transpositions of the spatial coordinates and the spin multipliers are symmetric with respect to transpositions of the spin coordinates. Because in the second case the spatial (antisymmetric) multiplier is the same for all three spin-functions, the energy of these three states will be the same i.e. triply degenerate - a triplet. The state with the antisymmetric spin multiplier is compatible with several different spatial wave functions, which probably produces a different value of energy when averaging the Hamiltonian, thus producing several spin-singlet states. From this example one may derive two conclusions (i) the spin of the many electronic wave function is important not by itself (the Hamiltonian is spin-independent), but as an indicator of the symmetry properties of the wave function (ii) the symmetry properties of the spatial and spin multipliers are complementary - if the spatial part is symmetric with respect to permutations the spin multiplier is antisymmetric and vice versa. 

Group theory is a branch of mathematics that involves elements with defined properties and a single method to combine two elements called multiplication. The symmetry operators belonging to any symmetrical object form a group. The theorems of group theory can provide useful information about electronic wave functions for symmetrical molecules, spectroscopic transitions, and so forth. 

Note that the complete wavefunction as written in Eq. (2.47) changes sign if the labels of the electrons (1 and 2) are interchanged. W. PauU pointed out that the wavefunctions of all multielectronic systems have this property. The overall wavefunction invariably is antisymmetric for an interchange of the coordinates (both positional and spin) of any two electrons. This assertion rests on experimental measurements of atomic and molecular absorption spectra absorption bands predicted on the basis of antisymmetric electrOTiic wavefunctirais are seen experimentally, whereas bands predicted on the basis of symmetric electronic wave-functions are not observed. Its most important implication is the Pauli exclusion principle, which says that a given spatial wavefunction can hold no more than two electrons. This follows if an electron can be described completely by specifying its spatial and spin wavefunctions and electrons have only two possible spin wave-functions (a and fi). 

Equation 144 is just the equation for the electronic energy which was discussed in Chapter XI. The electronic wave functions F x, y, z, r) therefore have the symmetry properties of the various irreducible representations of the groups Dooa or Coop according as the nuclei are identical or different. The vibrational wave function R r) depends only on the distance between the two nuclei and therefore belongs to the totally symmetrical representation. The complete wave fimction will thus have the symmetry properties of the product F x, y, z, r)U(6, x)-In order to discuss the nature of the solutions of 14 6 it will be con-... 

The behavior of a multi-particle system with a symmetric wave function differs markedly from the behavior of a system with an antisymmetric wave function. Particles with integral spin and therefore symmetric wave functions satisfy Bose-Einstein statistics and are called bosons, while particles with antisymmetric wave functions satisfy Fermi-Dirac statistics and are called fermions. Systems of " He atoms (helium-4) and of He atoms (helium-3) provide an excellent illustration. The " He atom is a boson with spin 0 because the spins of the two protons and the two neutrons in the nucleus and of the two electrons are paired. The He atom is a fermion with spin because the single neutron in the nucleus is unpaired. Because these two atoms obey different statistics, the thermodynamic and other macroscopic properties of liquid helium-4 and liquid helium-3 are dramatically different. 

Overlapping Ion Model. The ground-state wave function for an individual electron in an ionic crystal has been discussed by Lowdin (24). To explain the macroscopic properties of the alkali halides, Lowdin has introduced the symmetrical orthogonaliz tion technique. He has shown that an atomic orbital, x//, in an alkali halide can be given by... 

The electric-dipole transition is determined by the symmetry properties of the initial-state and the final-state wave functions, i.e., their irreducible representations. In the case of electric-dipole transitions, the selection rules shown in table 7 hold true (n and a represent the polarizations where the electric field vector of the incident light is parallel and perpendicular to the crystal c axis, respectively. Forbidden transitions are denoted by the x sign). In the relativistic DVME method, the Slater determinants are symmetrized according to the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients and the symmetry-adapted Slater determinants are used as the basis functions. Therefore, the diagonalization of the many-electron Dirac Hamiltonian is performed separately for each irreducible representation. 

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