Reactive scattering method

The review is divided into two major parts. The first deals with photodissociation theory and the second, with reactive scattering methods. 

This diatom-diatom reaction, as one of the most "simple four-atom reactions, has become a test system towards the development of rigorous quantum reactive scattering methods [68]. The reaction is characterized by a direct mechanism with no potential well being present. This, together with the light masses involved, makes this reaction favourable for the application of exact quantum methods [69]. On the experimental side, thermal rate coefficients [70], absolute [60] and differential cross sections [71] have been measured. 

The present paper is divided into two general sections, the first of which provides a brief overview of reactive scattering methods, and the second of which describes applications to specific reactive systems. The overview will be restricted to discussions on quantum reactive scattering, classical trajectory methods, and certain statistical methods such as transition state theory. Three specific reactive systems will be considered in the applications section. These are 0(3p) - - H2 -> OH + H, H(D) + H2(v=l) -> H2(DH) 4 H, and OH + H2 H2O + H. 

Balint-Kurti G G, Dixon R N and Marston C C 1992 Grid methods for solving the Schrodinger equation and time-dependent quantum dynamics of molecular photofragmentation and reactive scattering processes/of. Rev. Phys. Chem. 11 317—44... 

The first half of this section discusses the use of the crossed beams method for the study of reactive scattering, while the second half describes the application of laser-based spectroscopic metliods, including laser-mduced fluorescence and several other laser-based optical detection teclmiques. Furtlier discussion of both non-optical and optical methods for the study of chemical reaction dynamics can be found in articles by Lee [8] and Dagdigian [9]. 

Chapman W B, Blackman B W, Nizkorodov S and Nesbitt D J 1998 Quantum-state resolved reactive scattering of F + H2 in supersonic jets Nascent HF(v,J) rovibrational distributions via IR laser direct absorption methods J. Chem. Rhys. 109 9306-17... 

Lee Y T 1988 Reactive scattering I nonoptical methods Atomic and Molecular Beam Methods vol 1, ed G Scoles et a/(New York Oxford University Press) pp 553-68... 

Colbert D T and Miller W H 1992 A novel discrete variable representation for quantum mechanical reactive scattering via the S-matrix Kohn method J. Chem. Phys. 96 1982... 

In this chapter we have discussed the successful implementation in our laboratory, for the first time, of the soft (i.e. low energy) electron-impact ionization method for product detection in crossed molecular beams reactive scattering experiments with mass spectrometric detection. Analogous to the approach of soft photoionization by tunable VUV synchrotron radiation,... 

The aforementioned applications of recursive methods in reaction dynamics do not involve diagonalization explicitly. In some quantum mechanical formulations of reactive scattering problems, however, diagonalization of sub-Hamiltonian matrices is needed. Recursive diagonalizers for Hermitian and real-symmetric matrices described earlier in this chapter have been used by several authors.73,81... 

This chapter deals with the theory underlying the apphcation of wavepackets to molecular photodissociation and reactive scattering. The objective will be to derive and gather together the equations and theoretical methods needed in such calculations. No attempt will be made to reference aU calculations that have been undertaken in this very popular field. Several alternative related methods will be discussed, but it will not be possible to do full justice to all the different methods that have been proposed, many of which are being successfully used. 

As in the case of photodissociation, the quantum theory of reactive molecular scattering was initially entirely based on time-independent scattering theory [4-7,100-123]. There were several early attempts to apply time-dependent quantum theory to reactive scattering processes [124—131]. But the modern era of the field really began with the seminal work of Kosloff et al. [37] and the subsequent application of his grid-based methods to the reactive scattering problem by Neuhauser and Baer and coworkers [45,132]. There have been many developments in the field [93,133-138], and several reviews and a book have been written on the topic [10,139-141]. My aim in the next section will be to outline the basic methods of time-dependent quantum theory used in reactive scattering calculations. While the review will cover many aspects of the theory, it will not cover all the approaches currently in use (as of 2003). 

Key topics covered in the review are the analysis of the wavepacket in the exit channel to yield product quantum state distributions, photofragmentation T matrix elements, state-to-state S matrices, and the real wavepacket method, which we have applied only to reactive scattering calculations. 

The first volume contained nine state-of-the-art chapters on fundamental aspects, on formalism, and on a variety of applications. The various discussions employ both stationary and time-dependent frameworks, with Hermitian and non-Hermitian Hamiltonian constructions. A variety of formal and computational results address themes from quantum and statistical mechanics to the detailed analysis of time evolution of material or photon wave packets, from the difficult problem of combining advanced many-electron methods with properties of field-free and field-induced resonances to the dynamics of molecular processes and coherence effects in strong electromagnetic fields and strong laser pulses, from portrayals of novel phase space approaches of quantum reactive scattering to aspects of recent developments related to quantum information processing. 

Truhlar, D.G. and Muckerman, J.T. (1979). Reactive scattering cross sections III Quasi-classical and semiclassical methods, in Atom-Molecule Collision Theory, ed. R.B. Bernstein (Plenum Press, New York). 

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