  A transferable tight-binding potential has been constructed for heteroatomic
systems containing carbon and hydrogen. The electronic degree of freedom is
treated explicitly in this potential using a small set of transferable
parameters which has been fitted to small hydrocarbons and radicals.
Transferability to other higher hydrocarbons were tested by comparison with ab
initio calculations and experimental data. The potential can correctly
reproduce changes in the electronic configuration as a function of the local
bonding geometry around each carbon atom. This type of potential is well suited
for computer simulations of covalently bonded systems in both gas-phase and
condensed-phase systems.
