Vol. 16, issue 11, article # 8

Abstract:

The interaction between the ground and excited electronic states of the water molecule has been analyzed, and it was shown that the centrifugal distortion near the linear HOH configuration might lead to a considerable state mixing in the case that both the lower and upper state wave functions are located near the linear configuration. As a result, transitions to the high bending states, such as (0V₂0) with V₂ ~ 20, within the ground electronic state may be intense due to intensity borrowing. This effect seems to explain the weak 270 nm band experimentally observed earlier in the near UV spectrum.