Introduction to reactive molecular collisions

In chemical kinetics one characterizes the role of energy in chemical reactivity by the temperature dependence of the reaction rate constant. In Section 3.1 we review the input from chemical kinetics - the Arrhenius representation of the rate constant - then go from the rate constant to the reaction cross-section. Next we go in the opposite direction, from the microscopic reaction cross-section to the macroscopic rate constant. What we obtain thereby is the Tolman interpretation of the activation energy as the (mean) excess energy of those collisions that lead to reaction. 

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As will be shown throughout this book, quantum control of molecular dynamics has been applied to a wide variety of processes. Within the framework of chemical applications, control over reactive scattering has dominated. In particular, the two primary chemical processes focused upon are photodissociation, in which a molecule is irradiated and dissociates into various products, and bimolecular reactions, in which two molecules collide to produce new products. In this chapter we formulate fie quantum theory of photodissociation, that is, the light-induced breaking of a chemical bond. In doing so we provide an introduction to concepts essential for the 1 remainder of this book. The quantum theory of bimolecular collisions is also briefly ydiscussed. 

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