Schrödinger solution for the Morse oscillator
DOI: 10.1063/1.4796905
Piela replies: The Morse oscillator is a single point mass subject to the Morse original potential cited in Ilya Kaplan’s book, equation 5.22. Contrary to what Donald Truhlar writes, the Morse oscillator does not represent two point masses with a spring, not to mention a diatomic molecule. Therefore, Kaplan’s equation 5.23 is an exact solution of the Schrödinger equation for the Morse oscillator. The same solution is, of course, an approximate one for the Schrödinger equation for two point masses with a Morse-like spring or any real diatomic molecule.
Truhlar could literally repeat his arguments for the harmonic oscillator, instead of the Morse one. His conclusion in such a case would mean that the widely known solution to the Schrödinger equation for the harmonic oscillator is not exact. 1
References
1. L. Piela, Ideas of Quantum Chemistry, Elsevier, Amsterdam (2007), p. 239.
More about the authors
Lucjan Piela, (piela@chem.uw.edu.pl) Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland .
