RELATIVISTIC THEORY FOR INDIRECT NUCLEAR-SPIN SPIN COUPLINGS WITHIN THE POLARIZATION PROPAGATOR APPROACH

We present a relativistic theory for the nuclear spin-spin coupling tensor within the polarization propagator approach using the particle-hole Dirac-Coulomb-Breit Hamiltonian and the full four-component wave function. We give explicit expressions for the coupling tensor in the random-phase approximation, neglecting the Breit interaction. A purely relativistic perturbative electron-nuclear Hamiltonian is used and it is shown how the single relativistic contribution to the coupling tensor reduces to Ramsey's three second-order terms (Fermi contact, spin-dipole, and paramagnetic spin-orbit) in the nonrelativistic limit. The principal propagator becomes complex and the leading property integrals mix atomic orbitals of different parity. The well-known propagator expressions for the coupling tensor in the nonrelativistic limit is obtained neglecting terms of the order c(-n) (n greater-than-or-equal-to 1). (C) 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.