Variational study of the ground state energy of the E−b 1 , b 2 Jahn-Teller system

Abstract

In this paper a variational method for the ground state energy approximation of theE−b 1,b 2 Jahn-Teller system is presented. This method is based on the choice of a suitable variational ground state wave function. This trial wave function — a correlated squeezed state — is used to account for the correlation and anharmonicity of the interaction between the two vibrational modes; the anharmonicity of both modes is taken into account by the squeeze effects of these modes. The ground state of mode 1 in this trial wave function is considered as a linear combination of the two displaced harmonic oscillators. The ground state energies for the linearE - e Jahn-Teller system calculated by this method are not only in good agreement with the exact diagonalization results, but they are also better than those from the previous analytical studies. Another conclusion which results from the presented model is the following one: the squeezing effect of mode 1 for the linearE - e Jahn-Teller system is substantially smaller, in contrast with the results which are presented in the previous analytical studies.