The inversion of thermophysical properties

Abstract

The formal data inversion methods developed for spherical systems in the previous paper are used to devise similar techniques for non-spherical molecules. These are shown to be entirely equivalent to the heuristic methods of Smith and co-workers recently applied to polyatomic systems. The specific cases of second virial coefficients and dilute gas transport coefficients within the Mason-Monchick approximation are considered. The nature of the average over the full potential energy surface which is obtained by inversion is identified. The procedures are applied to molecules interacting with anisotropic inverse power potentials, for which analytic solutions are possible. This gives further insight into the relationship of the inverted potential to the true function. The results are consistent with observations reported in inversion studies involving more realistic non-spherical potentials. The implications of the results for obtaining information about the anisotropy of potential energy surfaces are discussed.