Theoretical studies of van der Waals molecules: the H₂-CO dimer

The bound states of the H 2 (j=0)- 12 C 16 O van der Waals molecule have been obtained, for two potential energy surfaces, by the secular equation method. A comparison is made with the eigenenergies obtained by direct numerical integration of the close-coupled equations. The latter approach has also been used to initiate a study of the effect of coupling to rotationally excited levels of H 2 . For the most accurate potential, the purely rotational millimetre wave spectrum has been determined for two simple dipole surfaces. Finally, the dimer spectrum accompanying the CO fundamental has been simulated and compared to experiments.