Vibrational Energies of the Hydrogen Bonds of H_3O_2^- and H_5O_2^+

Abstract

We approximate the vibrational energies of the symmetric and asymmetric stretches of the hydrogen bonds of the molecules H_3O_2^- and H_5O_2^+ by applying an improvement to the standard time-independent Born-Oppenheimer approximation. These two molecules are symmetric around a central hydrogen which participates in hydrogen bonding. Unlike the standard Born-Oppenheimer approximation, this approximation appropriately scales the hydrogen nuclei differently than the heavier oxygen nuclei. This results in significantly more accurate approximations for the stretching vibrational energies, which we compare to experimental measurements.