energy hypersurface (potential energy surface) (PES) 

https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.ET07029
The notion of hypersurface is used to stress the multidimensionality of PESs. In a molecular system consisting of N atomic nuclei, the number of the independent coordinates that fully determine the PES is equal to 3 N−6 (or 3 N−5 if the system is linear).
Source:
PAC, 1999, 71, 1919. (Glossary of terms used in theoretical organic chemistry) on page 1938 [Terms] [Paper]
Citation: 'energy hypersurface' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1351/goldbook.ET07029 RIS BibTex EndNote
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Last revised: February 24, 2014