EXPLORING THE TOPOLOGY OF POTENTIAL-ENERGY SURFACES OF THE H-2(-FIELD() ION IN THE PRESENCE OF A STRONG MAGNETIC)

We discuss the symmetries, the behavior of the diabatic energy curves, as well as the static aspects of vibronic interaction for diatomic mo lecules in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Our central subjec t of investigation is the topology of the adiabatic electronic potenti al energy surfaces of diatomic molecules which are discussed using som e selected examples of the surfaces of the H-2(+) ion. Global equilibr ium configurations corresponding to stable molecular states are found both for the parallel as well as for the perpendicular configurations. For a higher degree of excitation, we observe that the global minimum can belong to the lowest possible symmetry of the ion in the presence of a magnetic field. As an example, we discuss the topology of the 3( u) potential energy surface. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.