Characteristic vibrational coupling behavior of intermolecular potentials

Some recently available intermolecular potentials have been investigated and cast into a form suggestive of similar vibrational coupling behavior. The underlying physical factors behind these similarities are discussed. It is argued that a typical potential will exhibit an intermolecular distance(s) at which the vibrational coupling vanishes. It is expected that knowledge of this behavior will be particularly useful in model calculations of vibrationally inelastic collision processes.