Deformation of a Spherical Molecule
M. Apostol
Department of Theoretical Physics, Institute of Atomic Physics, Magurele-Bucharest MG-6, P.O. Box MG-35, Romania
Received: December 6, 1994
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The deformation suffered by a hollow, spherical molecule as an effect of rotations is studied within a continuum model which might be relevant for the fullerene molecule. The spherical elasticity is established to the lowest order in deformations and the natural perturbation parameter required by the stability of the object is identified as the square ratio of the rotation to the radial vibration pulsations. It is also shown that the main effect of the centrifugal coupling between rotations and radial vibrations is a static deformation whose energy is beyond the harmonic approximation.
DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.88.315
PACS numbers: 46.30.-i, 33.20.-t, 61.46.+w