Rotational energy surface and quasiclassical analysis of the rotational energy level cluster formation in the ground vibrational state of PH3

We report and substantiate a method for constructing the rotational energy surface (RES) of a molecule as a pure classical object. For an arbitrary molecule we start from the potential energy surface rather than from a conventional “effective Hamiltonian”. The method is used for constructing the RES of the PH₃ molecule in its ground vibrational state. We have used an ab initio potential energy surface D. Wang, Q. Shi, Q.-S. Zhu, J. Chem. Phys. 112 (2000) 9624-9631; S.N. Yurchenko, M. Carvajal, P. Jensen, F. Herregodts, T.R. Huet, Chem. Phys. 290 (2003) 59-67.]. The shape of the RES is shown not to change for J from 0 to 120. The procedure of quasiclassical quantization of the RES was also undertaken, yielding a set of quasiclassical critical values of the angular momentum. The results explain the structure of quantum rotational energy levels obtained by variational calculations S.N. Yurchenko, W. Thiel, S. Patchkovskii, P. Jensen, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 7 (2005) 573-582].