Intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution approximations

The nuclear function %a(R) is usually expanded in terms of a wave function describing the vibrational motion of the nuclei, and a rotational wave function [36, 37]. Analysis of the vibrational part of the wave function usually assumes that the vibrational motion is harmonic, such that a normal mode analysis can be applied [36, 38]. The breakdown of this approximation leads to vibrational coupling, commonly termed intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution, IVR. The rotational basis is usually taken as the rigid rotor basis [36, 38 -0]. This separation between vibrational and rotational motions neglects centrifugal and Coriolis coupling of rotation and vibration [36, 38—401. Next, we will write the wave packet prepared by the pump laser in terms of the zeroth-order BO basis as... 

In order to remove the need for explicit trajectory analysis, one makes the statistical approximation. This approximation can be formulated in a number of equivalent ways. In the microcanonical ensemble, all states are equally probable. Another formulation is that the lifetime of reactant (or intermediate) is random and follows an exponential decay rate. But perhaps the simplest statement is that intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) is faster than the reaction rate. IVR implies that if a reactant is prepared with some excited vibrational mode or modes, this excess energy will randomize into all of the vibrational modes prior to converting to product. 

Of course, a proper description of the fragmentation of a van der Waals molecule must be based on quantum mechanics and must account for the competition between intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution and reaction. However, approximate statistical theories of the reaction rate based on classical mechanics can be very useful in the construction of a physical picture of the relevant molecular dynamics. For that reason we examine how the classical mechanical theory of... 

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