Hindered rotational energy levels of a tetrahedron in a trigonal crystalline field

Abstract

The energy levels for the motion of a rigid tetrahedral molecule in a trigonal crystalline field have been computed. The symmetry group of the Hamiltonian is ?×C3, where ? is the tetrahedral group of rotations about body-fixed axes and C3 is the trigonal group of rotations about space-fixed axes. The effect on the tunneling frequencies, heat capacity, and activation energy of lowering the symmetry of the crystalline field from tetrahedral to trigonal is discussed. The energy levels of a symmetric top molecule in a tetrahedral crystalline field have been computed and used to determine tunneling frequencies.