Some properties of the lower electronic states for nonlinear He+ 3 clusters

Accurate, highly correlated calculations have been carried out for the ground electronic state and for a few of the lower excited electronic states, two of which are discussed in this work, of the trimer ionic helium cluster. Both linear asymmetric and nonlinear, symmetric, and asymmetric, configurations have been considered over a rather broad range of nuclear geometries. The results confirm the experimentally found [Chem. Phys. 102, 2773 (1995)] fragmentation patterns involving He and He+ fragments only and further suggest a range of possible nuclear geometries from which nonadiabatic couplings could also lead to He+ 2 fragments, albeit with a lower probability than the former channels. © 1997 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewe