Anharmonicity of a molecular oscillator

The phenomenon of anharmonicity has been proved to be an effect of coupling between the change of nuclear positions in molecular vibrations ( Q ) and the electronic degrees of freedom as represented by the chemical potential (μ) at constant number of electrons (N). The coupling parameters have well‐founded meaning in the conceptual density functional theory (DFT), first approximations to their numerical values have recently become available. The effect of coupling between normal vibrational modes also appears to be the direct consequence of the electron‐nuclear coupling. To show the pure anharmonic effect, calculations for a collection of diatomic molecules have been presented. The anharmonicity, described in the present work as d³E/d Q ³ ≠ 0, has been proved to be the intrinsic property of every oscillating molecular system. A small anharmonic contribution exists even for the “strong harmonic” oscillator, when for the force constant k both a = (?k/? Q )_N = 0 and λ = (?k/?N) _Q = 0. The latter derivative of the force constant appears to be primary factor determining the anharmonic property of a molecule. An estimate of its values has been provided from the experimental data on the anharmonicity of diatomic molecules. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2004