Ergodic energy redistribution

In the future it seems possible to study the ergodic character of the energy redistribution prior to dissociation for even larger polyatomic molecular ions. 

The question of the extent to which molecules behave ergodically [37, 316, 379, 513, 666] is particularly pertinent in mass spectrometry, where there are no intermolecular collisions to assist, or obscure the observation of, flow of energy among vibrations. The question in mass spectrometry is linked to and must involve the redistribution of electronic energy (Sect. 2.1.1), but there is advantage in discussing vibrational and electronic effects separately. 

As a consequence of these suppositions, CID is an ergodic ion activation method, which allows a redistribution of the energy in the vibrational modes of the ion because the dissociation rate is slower than the rate of energy randomization. In these conditions, the... 

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