H+3 potential energies and multipole moments are calculated from a full CI with a 10s, 4p, 2d GTO hydrogen basis. 69 calculated energy points with energies of up to 25 000 cm−1 above the minimum are fitted by a power series expansion in terms of a Morse-type coordinate with a mean square error of less than 1 cm−1. Rotationless vibrational states with energies of up to 12 000 cm−1 above equilibrium are calculated variationally for ten isotopomers. The resulting band origins for the seven analyzed fundamental transitions show a mean deviation of less than 2 cm−1. For the other predicted frequencies, the errors are expected to be below 0.1% also. The equilibrium bond length of H+3 is predicted to be 0.8732(2) Å.
The (H2)2 rigid rotor interaction potential has been calculated for the intermolecular distance range R = 3.0–11.0 a.u. for six relative orientations to estimate both the isotropic and anisotropic components of the full intermolecular potential. A partially optimized basis set limited in size to 78 independent Gaussian functions was used throughout the energy calculations, which required only very small corrections for basis set unsaturation effects. Correlation effects were computed both at the variational (single and) double excitation PNOCI level and using the CEPA2-PNO approximation to estimate higher order excitation effects. While the latter rigid-rotor surface may overestimate the strength of the H2–H2 interaction in the vicinity of the well by a few wave numbers in the rigid-rotor PNOCI surface from the present study, which we regard as an upper bound to the true rigid-rotor surface, is also slightly deeper than almost all previous theoretical and empirical ’’fit’’ potentials in the well region. Since low energy scattering experiments lack sensitivity to the precise well depth because of the long de Broglie wavelengths appropriate to scattering at energies comparable with the well depth, the significance of the current disagreement on the well depth between the rigid-rotor level of the theory (which puts it at least 27.5 cm−1) and experiment is uncertain. However, coupled with the present uncertainty stemming from the CI formalism of ∼±3 cm−1, is a further uncertainty due to the expected increase in intramolecular zero-point energies due to hindered H2 vibration within the dimer. A zero-point increase within each H2 at Re of 0.1% would effectively raise the rigid-rotor potentials by some 4 cm−1, bringing the well depth into line with experimental estimates. In the low energy part of the repulsive wall of the potential (where the relative importance of these small effects diminishes), which has been probed rather sensitively by recent rotationally inelastic scattering experiments and which strongly influences solid H2 properties, we find that both the present PNOCI and CEPA2 surfaces lie in between the respective semiempirical fit surfaces for the H2–H2 ’’pair’’ interaction. At the zero crossing of the isotropic component of the potential, we find excellent agreement between the present theoretical estimates of R0(2.99±0.03 Å) and the most recent experimental evaluation of the parameter (2.98±0.03 Å) by Buck et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 74, 535 (1981)].
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.