Nonlinearity, chemical reaction dynamics

The forcefields discussed in Section 2.1 use energy functions which do not take into account quantum effects. Many important processes are intrinsically quantum mechanical, and thus cannot be modelled classically. SA has been used in con-juction with density functional theory, the Schrodinger equation, chemical reaction dynamics, electronic structure studies, and to optimize linear and nonlinear parameters in trial wave functions. This is important because quantum effects are often embedded in an essentially classical system. This has motivated mixing the classical fields with the quantum potentials in simulations known as quantum mechanic/molecular mechanic hybrids. Including quantum effects is important in the study of enzyme reactions, and proton and electron transport studies. 

The first reaction filmed by X-rays was the recombination of photodisso-ciated iodine in a CCI4 solution [18, 19, 49]. As this reaction is considered a prototype chemical reaction, a considerable effort was made to study it. Experimental techniques such as linear [50-52] and nonlinear [53-55] spectroscopy were used, as well as theoretical methods such as quantum chemistry [56] and molecular dynamics simulation [57]. A fair understanding of the dissociation and recombination dynamics resulted. However, a fascinating challenge remained to film atomic motions during the reaction. This was done in the following way. 

Recently there has been an increasing interest in self-oscillatory phenomena and also in formation of spatio-temporal structure, accompanied by the rapid development of theory concerning dynamics of such systems under nonlinear, nonequilibrium conditions. The discovery of model chemical reactions to produce self-oscillations and spatio-temporal structures has accelerated the studies on nonlinear dynamics in chemistry. The Belousov-Zhabotinskii(B-Z) reaction is the most famous among such types of oscillatory chemical reactions, and has been studied most frequently during the past couple of decades [1,2]. The B-Z reaction has attracted much interest from scientists with various discipline, because in this reaction, the rhythmic change between oxidation and reduction states can be easily observed in a test tube. As the reproducibility of the amplitude, period and some other experimental measures is rather high under a found condition, the mechanism of the B-Z reaction has been almost fully understood until now. The most important step in the induction of oscillations is the existence of auto-catalytic process in the reaction network. 

I. R. Epstein and J. A. Pojman, An Introduction to Nonlinear Chemical Dynamics Oscillations, Waves, Patterns, and Chaos (New York Oxford University Press, 1998) I. R. Epstein, K. Kustin, P. De Kepper, and M. Orban, Scientific American, March 1983, p. 112 and H. Degn, Oscillating Chemical Reactions in Homogeneous Phase, J. Chem. Ed. 1972,49. 302. 

Ray Kapral came to Toronto from the United States in 1969. His research interests center on theories of rate processes both in systems close to equilibrium, where the goal is the development of a microscopic theory of condensed phase reaction rates,89 and in systems far from chemical equilibrium, where descriptions of the complex spatial and temporal reactive dynamics that these systems exhibit have been developed.90 He and his collaborators have carried out research on the dynamics of phase transitions and critical phenomena, the dynamics of colloidal suspensions, the kinetic theory of chemical reactions in liquids, nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of liquids and mode coupling theory, mechanisms for the onset of chaos in nonlinear dynamical systems, the stochastic theory of chemical rate processes, studies of pattern formation in chemically reacting systems, and the development of molecular dynamics simulation methods for activated chemical rate processes. His recent research activities center on the theory of quantum and classical rate processes in the condensed phase91 and in clusters, and studies of chemical waves and patterns in reacting systems at both the macroscopic and mesoscopic levels. 

At the microscopic level, chemical reactions are dynamical phenomena in which nonlinear vibrational motions are strongly coupled with each other. Therefore, deterministic chaos in dynamical systems plays a crucial role in understanding chemical reactions. In particular, the dynamical origin of statistical behavior and the possibility of controlling reactions require analyses of chaotic behavior in multidimensional phase space. 

Computational fluid dynamics involves the analysis of fluid flow and related phenomena such as heat and/or mass transfer, mixing, and chemical reaction using numerical solution methods. Usually the domain of interest is divided into a large number of control volumes (or computational cells or elements) which have a relatively small size in comparison with the macroscopic volume of the domain of interest. For each control volume a discrete representation of the relevant conservation equations is made after which an iterative solution procedure is invoked to obtain the solution of the nonlinear equations. Due to the advent of high-speed digital computers and the availability of powerful numerical algorithms the CFD approach has become feasible. CFD can be seen as a hybrid branch of mechanics and mathematics. CFD is based on the conservation laws for mass, momentum, and (thermal) energy, which can be expressed as follows ... 

Unimolecular dissociation is one of the simplest types of irreversible chemical reactions It takes place in a single isolated molecule with an internal energy that exceeds the first dissociation threshold see Fig. 1(a) for a schematic overview. Nevertheless, the underlying atomic-level reaction mechanisms are very complex. Their theoretical description requires all the power of modern quantum chemical methods, statistical physics and nonlinear dynamics, and even then the full rigor can be achieved just for small, mostly triatomic molecules. Experimental studies have to be likewise advanced Up to three laser pulses are combined in a modern experiment to elucidate all details of the dissociation process. 

Oscillating reactions, a common feature of biological systems, are best understood within the context of nonlinear chemical dynamics and chaos theory based models that are used to predict the overall behavior of complex systems. A chaotic system is unpredictable, but not random. A key feature is that such systems are so sensitive to their initial conditions that future behavior is inherently unpredictable beyond some relatively short period of time. Accordingly, one of the goals of scientists studying oscillating reactions is to determine mathematical patterns or repeatable features that establish relationships to observable phenomena related to the oscillating reaction. 

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