An inverse method for obtaining smooth multidimensional potential energy surfaces: application to Ar+OH A 2∑+(v=0)

A regularized inverse method is developed to determine an accurate multidimensional potential energy surface directly from spectral or scattering data. The method properly handles the inherent underdeterminancy, instability and nonlinearity of the problem, and extracts a physically acceptable smooth solution. The method is implemented for Ar+OH(A 2∑+).