Structural and thermodynamic properties of fluid carbon dioxide from a new ab initio potential energy surface

An intermolecular potential energy surface for the carbon dioxide dimer is calculated fully ab initio using a large basis set and including electron correlation. From this potential the dimer structure and the second virial coefficients are determined. In addition, it is applied in molecular dynamics simulations to obtain the fluid structure, the pressure, the internal energy, the thermal pressure coefficient, and the molar heat at constant volume. The results are compared with those from simulations with a previous ab initio potential. In this way we gain information regarding the sensitivity of each property to the quality of the quantum chemically obtained potential. Equilibration of carbon dioxide simulations must be done with great care due to the very slow energy transfer between the intramolecular vibrations and the other degrees of freedom. This point is addressed in some detail.