On the question of determining molecular electric dipole moments from field-free frequency data

The effective masses in the Hamiltonian of a diatomic molecule with corrections for the breakdown of the Born–Oppenheimer approximation depend on the charge distribution in the molecule, and so the field-free energy levels are possible sources of information on the electric dipole moment of the molecule and other electromagnetic quantities. However, examination of explicit energy formulas and of a general indeterminacy in the effective Hamiltonian shows that this information is inseparable from effects due to the adiabatic correction to the potential. Electric dipole moments and other electromagnetic quantities obtained in this way are therefore not reliable.