Abstract: | Novel approximate methods for calculating the vibrational structure of the electronic spectra of polyatomic molecules—a method for the direct calculation of the overlap integrals of vibrational wave functions for the electronic states involved in a transition and a variational method for the solution of the vibrational problem for the excited states—are discussed. The methods are based on the consideration of the displacement and entanglement of normal coordinates, the quasiorthogonality of the Dushinsky transformation, and the classification of the states by total vibrational quantum numbers. Matrix perturbation theory is employed. It is shown that the accuracy of these methods compares well with the accuracy of the available “exact” techniques (the errors are ∼1 cm−1 for frequency and 10% for relative intensity). At the same time, calculations by the new methods are performed more than two orders of magnitude faster than by the previously known methods. K. A. Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, Moscow. Translated fromZhurnal Strukturnoi Khimii, Vol. 36, No. 2, pp. 217–230, March–April, 1995. Translated by I. Izvekova |