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A new global and highly accurate ab initio dipole moment surface (DMS) for water vapour is presented. This DMS is based on a set of 17 628 multi-reference configuration interaction data points that were calculated with the aug-cc-pCV6Z basis set with the Douglas-Kroll-Hess Hamiltonian; tests are performed at several other levels of ab initio theory. This new “CKAPTEN” DMS improves agreement with recent experimental measurements compared with previous models that poorly predicted some bands in the infrared while also maintaining or improving on the agreement for all remaining strong lines. For high overtones located in both the visible and the near ultraviolet regions, our predicted intensities all lie within 10% of recent atmospheric observations. A crossing of energy levels in the ν1 fundamental and 2ν2 states is seen to offset transition intensities in the ν1 fundamental band; residual inaccuracies within the potential energy surface used is the cause of this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ab initio potential energy surface (PES) for gas-phase ammonia NH 3 has been computed using the methodology pioneered for water (Polyansky et al., 2013). Multireference configuration interaction calculations are performed at about 50 000 points using the aug-cc-pCVQZ and aug-cc-pCV5Z basis sets and basis set extrapolation. Relativistic and adiabatic surfaces are also computed. The points are fitted to a suitable analytical form, producing the most accurate ab initio PES for this molecule available. The rotation-vibration energy levels are computed using nuclear motion program TROVE in both linearised and curvilinear coordinates. Better convergence is obtained using curvilinear coordinates. Our results are used to assign the visible spectrum of 14 NH 3 recorded by Coy and Lehmann (1986). Rotation-vibration energy levels for the isotopologues NH 2 D, NHD 2 , ND 3 and 15 NH 3 are also given. An ab initio value for the dissociation energy D 0 of 14 NH 3 is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ab initio calculations of water intensities are becoming mature and are claimed to have 1% accuracy in many cases. Experimental intensities with 1% accuracy can be achieved with some care. An intercomparison of ab initio against experimental water intensities is presented for a variety of infrared bands for H 2 16 O and some for H 2 18 O and H 2 17 O. A new calculated H 2 16 O line list is presented for which uncertainties in the ab initio line intensities are evaluated. Much of the data show agreement within 2% between ab initio and experiment, however, for some bands, notably those involving excitation of some stretching modes, there are larger offsets of up to 8% attributed to ab initio calculation errors but still within the uncertainty of the ab initio calculation. In the ν 1 fundamental band differences of between + 5 % and − 13 % are found which show systematic dependence on wavenumber, Δ K a , and Δ J , again attributable to ab initio calculation errors. In the ν 2 band, intensity-dependent differences up to 2% originate from the analysis of the experimental data. At present experiments are important to validate ab initio calculations but ab initio predictions can be very useful in validating the experiment. As the two procedures display significantly different systematic errors, it is suggested that combining both gives the best results; this study will also facilitate further improvements of the theoretical methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]