EXPANSIONS FOR THE EIGENVALUES OF 3-TERM RECURRENCE RELATIONS - 2 APPLICATIONS IN MOLECULAR PHYSICS

Approximate expressions for the eigenvalue of a three-term recurrence relation with a general form describing various physical problems are proposed. Their range of availability is examined by comparison with e xact values for two different problems: the bound and continuum states of monoelectronic diatomic ions and the Schrodinger equation describi ng molecular alignment in intense laser fields. For each case, very go od predictions have been obtained, which may be useful as initial valu es in iterative procedures for deriving exact solutions.