Calculating splittings between energy levels of different symmetry using path-integral methods.

Abstract

It is well known that path-integral methods can be used to calculate the energy splitting between the ground and the first excited state. Here we show that this approach can be generalized to give the splitting patterns between all the lowest energy levels from different symmetry blocks that lie below the first-excited totally symmetric state. We demonstrate this property numerically for some two-dimensional models. The approach is likely to be useful for computing rovibrational energy levels and tunnelling splittings in floppy molecules and gas-phase clusters.