Rydberg electrons

The second step in the reaction, dissociation of the Hej Rydberg molecule, is similar to dissociative recombination of He with a free electron. For this reason, Bates73 called this recombination mechanism Rydberg dissociative recombination. It enhances the overall loss rate of free electrons because the stabilization of He2 prevents the return of weakly bound electrons to the population of free electrons. The reaction plays the same role as the reaction of H with H2 that we discussed in Section IV.C. As has been discussed by Bates, the mechanism also provides an explanation for spectroscopic observations of atomic and molecular emissions in helium afterglows. There is direct evidence for the existence of a substantial population of weakly bound electrons in helium afterglows.74 Most likely, the weakly bound electrons are Rydberg electrons in He2 molecules. 

Chiral effects in rydberg electron-bound complexes 194... 

CHIRAL EFFECTS IN RYDBERG ELECTRON-BOUND COMPLEXES... 

H. J. Neusser In relation to the comment by Prof. Yamanouchi, we should notice that an efficient interaction of the Rydberg electron with vibrations of the core is expected for small vibrational frequencies. Benzene as a rigid molecule has relatively large vibrational frequencies of more than 300 cm"1. An efficient coupling is expected for van der Waals complexes (e.g., the benzene-Ar complex) with low van der Waals vibrational frequencies of about 30 cm 1. 

Here, Q is the projector on the bound subspace and P projects onto the open, continuum channels. The intramolecular coupling is written as V+ U so that, as before, U is any additional coupling brough about by external perturbations. The equation H = Hq + V+U, where Ho is the zero-order Hamiltonian of the Rydberg electron and so includes only the central part of the potential due to the core plus the motion (vibration, rotation) of the core, uncoupled to the electron. The perturbations V + U can act within the bound subspace, as the operator Q(V+l/)Q is not necessarily diagonal and is the cause of any intramolecular dynamics even in the absence of coupling to the continuum. The intramolecular terms can also couple the bound and dissociative states. 

R. D. Levine To answer the question of Prof. Lorquet, let me say that the peaks in the ZEKE spectra correspond to the different energy states of the ion. From the beginning one was able to resolve vibrational states, and nowadays individual rotational states of polyatomics have also been resolved. The ZEKE spectrum is obtained by a (weak) electrical-field-induced ionization of a high Rydberg electron moving about the ion. The very structure of the spectrum appears to me to point to the appropriate zero-order description of the states before ionization as definite rovibrational states of the ionic core, each of which has its own Rydberg series. Such a zero-order description is inverse to the one we use at far lower energies where each electronic state has its own set of distinct rovibrational states, known as the Bom-Oppenheimer limit. 

Knospe and R. Schmidt [1], Here the two charged clusters A and B rotate around each other, similar to the rotation of the Rydberg electron e around its cationic center M+ in the Rydberg state M+ e . Several properties of the trajectories for A+ B and M+ e are found to be analogous, except for the different masses and effects of internal motions in the fragments A and B [1]. 

For small nonpolar species such as H2 and N2 the dominant interaction between the Rydberg electron and the nuclear vibrational and rotational motion occurs within a small radius around the ionic core, which is traversed in a fraction of a femtosecond. This short encounter justifies the sudden treatment of vibration and rotation in MQDT theory, while also permitting Bom-Oppenheimer estimates of the necessary quantum defect functions. It is also central to the n-3 scaling law because the core transit time is almost energy independent, while the Rydberg orbit time increases as n3. 

L. Woste Prof. Chergui, the bubble created by your Rydberg electron is very exciting. It should have a remarkable dimension. Do you think that your NO molecule can rotate inside the bubble, just to give more evidence to that bubble ... 

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