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Coulomb Sturmian amplitude functions are derived in prolate spheroidal coordinates and are presented in a closed algebraic form. Spheroidal Sturnian functions are revealed to be related to the polynomial solutions of Heun's confluent equation. A reduction of symmetry from spherical to axial leads to the coupling of spherical polar orbitals and the formation of hybrid orbitals. The contribution of each spherical orbital into a hybrid orbital depends strongly on distanceRfrom a nucleus to the dummy centre, and substantially alters whenRvaries. At two limiting casesR= 0 andR→ ∞ spheroidal Sturmians are purely atomic orbitals, whereas at intermediateRthey contain many features intrinsic to diatomic molecular orbitals. Applications of spheroidal Sturmian basis are discussed; Coulomb spheroidal Sturmians are asserted to be the most appropriate basis functions for diatomic molecular calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coulomb Sturmians are obtained in prolate spheroidal coordinates by separation of variables in the Schrödinger equation and direct solution of the appropriate one-dimensional equations. Molecular orbitals are expressed as linear combinations of the introduced Coulomb Sturmians and some low-lying energy terms and corresponding wave functions are calculated for one-electron diatomic molecules. It is shown that similarity of the one- and two-centre orbitals in spheroidal coordinates, combined with completeness and good convergence properties of Coulomb Sturmians, substantially speeds up convergence and makes the calculated results closer to the exact ones. Application of the elaborated calculating scheme for diatomic many-electron molecules is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]