Vibration-rotation effects on the polarizabilities of CH4 and CD4 calculated from an ab initio polarizability surface

A polarizability surface has been calculated for the methane molecule using a Hartree-Fock wavefunction. Coefficients of the surface are given to second order in terms of both symmetry coordinates and internal coordinates. The polarizability is sensitive to bond stretching and angle bending. The effects of nuclear motion on the polarizabilitles of ¹²CH₄ and ¹²CD₄ have been calculated from the coefficients of the surface. Some of the second order coefficients are found to be significant in contributing to the nuclear motion corrections. The ν₃ mode is the dominant contributor to the corrections. The temperature dependences of the mean molecular polarizabilities of ¹²CH₄ and ¹²CD₄ are also calculated. The results suggest that modern methods of measurement could distinguish between the isotopomers CH_4-n D _n (n=0–4) thereby enabling an experimental surface to be obtained.