The rovibrational kinetic energy for complexes of rigid molecules

Abstract

The rovibrational kinetic energy for an arbitrary number of rigid molecules is computed. The result has the same general form as the kinetic energy in the molecular rovibrational Hamiltonian, although certain quantities are augmented to account for the rotational energy of the monomers. No specific choices of internal coordinates or body frame are made in order to accommodate the large variety of such conventions. However, special attention is paid to how key quantities transform when these conventions are changed. An example system is explicitly analysed as an illustration of the formalism.