Excited states of gaseous ions. VI. Potential energy surfaces of CH2+

Several low-lying excited states of the CH2 + ion have been studied by ab initio GTO-SCF-CL methods. Optimized geometries and energy differences are given for seven of them: B̃2B2, ã4A2, C̃2A2, D̃2A2, 4A2(2), 2B1(2) and 4A2(3), in the order of increasing energies. Potential energy surfaces are given for the B̃2B2 and for the first three 4A2 states. These calculations enable us to discuss experimental results concerning the metastable decay (predissociation) of the CH2 + ion, as well as some of its ion-molecule reactions. © 1978.