Instituto de Física, UNAM, A.P. 20-364, 01000 México, D.F., México
Daresbury Laboratory, SERC, Warrington WA4 4AD, UK
Abstract:
Calculations on linear and bent structures of N3 and P3 show that these species are quite different. N3 is linear, P3 is bent almost to a D3h geometry. The symmetry of P3 in D3h is 2E″ but the Jahn-Teller distortion is very small, ≈4°. The many-body expansion of the energy of Pn clusters appears to be only slowly convergent.