Abstract: | We present a derivation of simple formulas for the evaluation at any point of space of the magnetic field produced by a spin or a paramagnetic orbital current when Cartesian Gaussian basis functions are used, as is often the case in quantum chemistry. These formulas can be useful to plot the magnetic field vector density obtained from ab initio calculations or from a density operator fitted on experimental data. The magnetic field density is the observable probed in polarized neutron diffraction (PND) experiment, for it is, in fact, with this quantity that the neutron spins interact and not with the spin or magnetization density. The formulas make extensive use of the confluent hypergeometric function. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Quant Chem 81: 11–15, 2001 |