A parity function for studying the molecular electronic structure

Sections through the molecular Wigner function with zero momentum variable are shown to provide important information about the off-diagonal regions of the spinless one-particle reduced density matrix. Since these regions are characteristic for the bonding situation in molecules, the sections are qualitatively even more affected by the presence of chemical bonds than a complementary projection, the reciprocal form factor. In this paper we discuss, on the grounds of a variety of examples, how this rather simple function may aid the understanding of the chemical bond on a one-particle level. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.