Density of states and the steepest descent method: a non-iterative procedure

Abstract

A non-iterative approximation to the method of steepest descent is given for the evaluation of state density in a molecular system. Test calculations on 'large' and 'small' model molecules consisting of harmonic oscillators and rigid rotors show excellent agreement with the 'exact' first-order steepest-descent solutions, but are almost an order of magnitude faster in computing times.