Constructing Periodic Phase Space Orbits from ab Initio Molecular Dynamics Trajectories to Analyze Vibrational Spectra: Case Study of the Zundel (H5O2+) Cation

A method of analysis is introduced to probe the spectral features obtained from ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Here, the instantaneous mass-weighted velocities are projected onto irreducible representations constructed from discrete time translation groups comprising operations that invoke the time-domain symmetries (or periodic phase space orbits) reflected in the spectra. The projected velocities are decomposed using singular value decomposition (SVD) to construct a set of "modes" pertaining to a given frequency domain. These modes now include all anharmonicities, as sampled during the dynamics simulations. In this approach, the underlying motions are probed in a manner invariant with respect to coordinate transformations, operations being performed along the time axis rather than coordinate axes, making the analysis independent of choice of reference frame. The method is used to probe the underlying motions responsible for the doublet at similar to 1000 cm(-1) in the vibrational spectrum of the H5O2+, Zundel cation. The associated analysis results are confirmed by projecting the Fourier transformed velocities onto the harmonic normal mode coordinates and a set of mass-weighted, symmetrized Jacobi coordinates. It is found that the two peaks of the doublet are described and differentiated by their respective contributions from the proton transfer, water-water stretch, and water wag coordinates, as these are defined. Temperature dependent effects are also briefly noted.