Convergence of series expansions in rovibrational configuration interaction (RVCI) calculations

Abstract

Rotational and rovibrational spectra are a key in astrophysical studies, atmospheric science, pollution monitoring, and other fields of active research. The ab initio calculation of such spectra is fairly sensitive with respect to a multitude of parameters and all of them must be carefully monitored in order to yield reliable results. Besides the most obvious ones, i.e., the quality of the multidimensional potential energy surface and the vibrational wavefunctions, it is the representation of the μ-tensor within the Watson Hamiltonian, which has a significant impact on the desired line lists or simulated spectra. Within this work, we studied the dependence of high-resolution rovibrational spectra with respect to the truncation order of the μ-tensor within the rotational contribution and the Coriolis coupling operator of the Watson operator. Moreover, the dependence of the infrared intensities of the rovibrational transitions on an n-mode expansion of the dipole moment surface has been investigated as well. Benchmark calculations are provided for thioformaldehyde, which has already served as a test molecule in other studies and whose rovibrational spectrum was found to be fairly sensitive. All calculations rely on rovibrational configuration interaction theory and the discussed high-order terms of the μ-tensor are a newly implemented feature, whose theoretical basics are briefly discussed.