On the singlet—triplet splittings of the Ag and Au states of C60

Theoretical calculations on C60 show that the singlet—triplet splittings of its Ag and Au states are either zero or very small. In particular, the single-excitation mixing calculations in the zero-differential overlap approximation predict the splittings to be exactly zero. A detailed group-theoretical analysis indicates that this nature of the C60 molecule is intrinsic to its high symmetry.