ISSN:
1089-7690
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
This paper considers optically inactive molecules possessing a symmetry plane. Degenerated excited electronic states in such molecules may, in principle, differ in symmetry with respect to mapping onto the symmetry plane. Should this prove the case, the parity-nonconserving electron-nuclear interaction (PNI) causes the degenerated electronic level to suffer a splitting linear in the Weinberg constant. The paper analyzes from this standpoint the lowest-lying excited states in the ten-electron HF, NH3, B2, and H2O molecules. Two of them, namely HF and NH3, possess the necessary and sufficient symmetry properties for such a linear splitting to occur. Factors are discussed that augment the PNI-induced splitting of the excited states under consideration in comparison with the splitting of the ground state in left- and right-handed modifications of optically active molecules. Computations confirm the occurrence of a great ((approximate)10−13 eV) splitting of the levels being considered due to the PNI effect. A similar effect can also occur in the electronic ground state of paramagnetic molecules, such as NO. The computation uses the consistent multiple-electron perturbation theory with a model single-electron central field bare potential. The computer code used is a modification of the original code developed for precision atomic calculations. All the computations boil down to the solution of a single set of ordinary differential equations, i.e., a unidimensional procedure. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.473267
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