SO(4) symmetry and the static Jahn-Teller effect in icosahedral molecules

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The G×(g+h) Jahn-Teller problem, relevant to the instability of icosahedral molecules in fourfold-degenerate electronic states, is investigated. The stationary points of the resulting adiabatic potential energy surface are retrieved by the method of the isostationary function. This method takes advantage of the parent SO(4) symmetry of the G×(g+h) problem under equal-coupling conditions. The structure of the surface depends on the relative strength of the coupling to fourfold- and fivefold-degenerate modes. If the G×g coupling is predominant, five tetrahedral minima are found, forming the vertices of a four-dimensional tetrahedron. If the G×h coupling is the more pronounced, ten trigonal minima are found at the vertices of a Petersen graph. The results are in agreement with the epikernel principle.

This publication has 23 references indexed in Scilit: