The subduction of vibrational states of molecules from the momentum space of simple harmonic motion

A single-particle model of molecular vibrational states is proposed in which the normal modes are projected out of the body vibrations of an infinite simple harmonic sphere. This model assigns the spurious change of mass or centre of mass and leads to removal of mass monopoles and dipoles from the system. These conservation conditions impose strict boundary conditions on the potential and basis functions. On incorporation into the model they result in a set of loop equations in which the potential is proportional to the fundamental vibration. The simplest solutions to these equations strongly resemble the Poschl-Teller generalization of the Morse potential. The solutions have been extended to incorporate the repulsive states and generate the set of net attractive states appropriate to the anharmonic potential.The basis functions of this potential display both angular and radial node structures. The degeneracies between radial and angular mode patterns can be studied by transformation into an angular coordinate space. In this way coupling to other phenomena described in similar angular momentum space can be performed directly before subduction to real displacement space.On leave from the Department of Chemistry, Catholic University of Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200F, B-3030 Leuven-Belgium