Abstract: | By applying the projection operator method it is shown that the complicated Hamiltonian of a E ? ? JT system with nonlinear coupling coefficients can be written in terms of two Hamiltonians which are simple to handle and transform according to irreducible representations E, A1, and A2 of C3v point group. A variational approach is then used to calculate the ground state energy, using the Hamiltonian that transforms according to E, as an explicit function of the linear and nonlinear coupling parameters. The energies calculated in the strong coupling limit are finally compared with the corresponding previously calculated energies. |