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Concept
Rigid rotor
Summary
In rotordynamics, the rigid rotor is a mechanical model of rotating systems. An arbitrary rigid rotor is a 3-dimensional rigid object, such as a top. To orient such an object in space requires three angles, known as Euler angles. A special rigid rotor is the linear rotor requiring only two angles to describe, for example of a diatomic molecule. More general molecules are 3-dimensional, such as water (asymmetric rotor), ammonia (symmetric rotor), or methane (spherical rotor).
The linear rigid rotor model consists of two point masses located at fixed distances from their center of mass. The fixed distance between the two masses and the values of the masses are the only characteristics of the rigid model. However, for many actual diatomics this model is too restrictive since distances are usually not completely fixed. Corrections on the rigid model can be made to compensate for small variations in the distance. Even in such a case the rigid rotor model is a useful point of departure (zeroth-order model).
The classical linear rotor consists of two point masses and (with reduced mass ) at a distance of each other. The rotor is rigid if is independent of time. The kinematics of a linear rigid rotor is usually described by means of spherical polar coordinates, which form a coordinate system of R3. In the physics convention the coordinates are the co-latitude (zenith) angle , the longitudinal (azimuth) angle and the distance . The angles specify the orientation of the rotor in space. The kinetic energy of the linear rigid rotor is given by
where and are scale (or Lamé) factors.
Scale factors are of importance for quantum mechanical applications since they enter the Laplacian expressed in curvilinear coordinates. In the case at hand (constant )
The classical Hamiltonian function of the linear rigid rotor is
The linear rigid rotor model can be used in quantum mechanics to predict the rotational energy of a diatomic molecule. The rotational energy depends on the moment of inertia for the system, .
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