On symmetry in the polarization expansion for intermolecular forces

In the usual polarization expansion for intermolecular forces, exchange effects that determine the separations of energy levels within the manifold of interacting states are ignored. Previous low order calculations on simple physical systems have indicated that these exchange terms can be described reasonably well by an appropriate ad hoc symmetrization of the polarization wave function (the SYM-P method). But theoretical considerations suggest that the SYM-P method should be good for only one of the interacting states and not for the others in the manifold. Here this long standing apparent conflict between theoretical expectations and actual results is explained by consideration of a simple model system in which the relevant equations can be solved exactly. It is concluded that while the SYM-P method is potentially exact for only one of the interacting states, it may provide good approximations to the other states of the manifold in the case of large separations of the interacting subsystems.