ISSN:
1089-7690
Source:
AIP Digital Archive
Topics:
Physics
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
Notes:
We present a theoretical analysis of the effects that lead to distortion or symmetry restoration of the nuclear configuration in ions of weakly bound molecular systems and clusters. The vibronic coupling mechanisms involved are reviewed and discussed in terms of simple and general models. Guided by a qualitative characterization of the wave function of a loosely bound system, we study the symmetry determining effects for such ions in terms of first order (Koopmans'), relaxation and correlation distortion energies associated with electron removal from the parent system. Our discussion suggests that the Koopmans' approximation can reasonably be expected to provide a qualitatively correct dependence of the ion energy on nuclear motion. Exceeding these expectations, it is found in numerical applications to the He+3 and He+4 ions that the relaxation and correlation energy changes accompanying symmetry breaking tend to cancel exactly. This implies, and we show in practice, that while insufficiently accurate correlation energy estimates may easily lead to incorrect geometries, the inexpensive Koopmans' approximation can often suffice to obtain the correct energy curvature along symmetry breaking coordinates. Further preliminary results for N3 and CO+2 suggest that these findings have a much wider applicability than anticipated.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.457321
