Polarizabilities of the rare-gas homonuclear diatoms

We present a simple, analytical model of the interaction-induced polarizabi lity of the homonuclear rare-gas diatoms which contains only one free param eter. Electrostatic and exchange contributions to the pair polarizability a re derived under the assumption that the electronic properties of each atom can be simulated by a single effective electron whose average distance fro m the nucleus is determined by the atomic polarizability. The dipole-induce d dipole contribution at short internuclear distances is damped as appropri ate for any realistic model. The model permits the reproduction of the avai lable measurements of the interaction-induced, binary depolarized Raman spe ctra of the rare gases. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606 (99)00138-5].