Ab initio interaction potentials of the Ba, Ba⁺ complexes with Ar, Kr, and Xe in the lowest excited states

The complexes of the Ba atom and Ba⁺ cation with the rare gas atoms Ar, Kr, and Xe in the states associated with the 6s → 5d, 6p excitations are investigated by means of the multireference configuration interaction techniques. Scalar relativistic potentials are obtained by the complete basis limit extrapolation through the sequence of aug-cc-pwCVnZ basis sets with the cardinal numbers n = Q, T, 5, combined with the suitable effective core potentials and benchmarked against the coupled cluster with singles, doubles, and non-iterative triples calculations and the literature data available for selected electronic states. Spin-orbit coupling is taken into account by means of the state-interacting multireference configuration interaction calculations performed for the Breit-Pauli spin-orbit Hamiltonian. The results show weak spin-orbit coupling between the states belonging to distinct atomic multiplets. General trends in the interaction strength and long-range anisotropy along the rare gas series are discussed. Vibronic spectra of the Ba and Ba⁺ complexes in the vicinity of the ¹S → ¹P° and ²S → ²P° atomic transitions and diffusion cross sections of the Ba(¹S₀, ³D_J) atom in high-temperature rare gases are calculated. Comparison with available experimental data shows that multireference calculations tend to underestimate the interaction strength for excited complexes.