Size Evolution of Photoabsorption Spectra of Small Clusters: A Computational Study

Photoabsorption spectra of $$ clusters, N=5-9, have been calculated using a diatomics-in-molecules like electronic structure model and a path-integral Monte Carlo sampling method. A qualitative change in the calculated spectra has been observed at N=9, which has been interpreted in terms of a structural transformation in the clusters consisting in a transition from trimer-like ionic cores observed for N≤7 to dimer-like ionic cores prevailing in $$ through an intermediate state (comparable abundances of both types of ionic cores) observed in $$ . The calculated spectra have been thoroughly compared with an earlier calculation on $$ , $$ , and $$ reported from our group and data available for the same cluster sizes from an experiment.