Coupled-channels quantum theory of electronic flux density in electronically adiabatic processes: fundamentals

The Born-Oppenheimer (BO) description of electronically adiabatic molecular processes predicts a vanishing electronic flux density (j(e)), =1/2∫dR[Δ(b) (x;R) - Δ(a) (x;R)] even though the electrons certainly move in response to the movement of the nuclei. This article, the first of a pair, proposes a quantum-mechanical "coupled-channels" (CC) theory that allows the approximate extraction of j(e) from the electronically adiabatic BO wave function . The CC theory is detailed for H(2)(+), in which case j(e) can be resolved into components associated with two channels α (=a,b), each of which corresponds to the "collision" of an "internal" atom α (proton a or b plus electron) with the other nucleus β (proton b or a). The dynamical role of the electron, which accommodates itself instantaneously to the motion of the nuclei, is submerged in effective electronic probability (population) densities, Δ(α), associated with each channel (α). The Δ(α) densities are determined by the (time-independent) BO electronic energy eigenfunction, which depends parametrically on the configuration of the nuclei, the motion of which is governed by the usual BO nuclear Schrödinger equation. Intuitively appealing formal expressions for the electronic flux density are derived for H(2)(+).