Multidimensional anharmonic calculation of the vibrational frequencies and intensities for the trans and cis isomers of HONO with the use of normal coordinates

Abstract

The equilibrium geometry and the potential energy and dipole moment surfaces have been determined for the cis and trans isomers of the HONO molecule by an ab initio Moller–Plesset (MP2) calculation with a wide set of atomic orbitals. The multidimensional anharmonic vibrational Schrodinger equations are solved using the variational method with the Hamiltonian and wave functions written in the normal coordinates of cis and trans isomers. All one- and two-dimensional and a number of three-dimensional vibrational problems are solved to obtain the energy levels and vibrational eigenfunctions. The frequencies and intensities for the fundamental, overtone and some combination bands are determined in good agreement with the available experimental results. The calculation shows the strength of coupling between different vibrational modes and reveals the presence of strong resonances between the ( v 1, v 3, v 6) and ( v 1, v 3−1, v 6+2) states of cis-HONO. This fact may be important for understanding the energy redistribution between the intermolecular degrees of freedom. The magnitude and direction of vibrationally averaged ground-state dipole moment of both isomers, as well as the direction of transition dipole moments, are in good agreement with the experimental findings. The changes in the values of dipole moment and some geometrical parameters of cis- and trans-HONO on vibrational excitation are also computed.