Unimolecular dissociation of HOCl: unexpectedly broad distribution of rate constants

The vibrational dynamics of 3D HOCl above dissociation

We explore the classical vibrational dynamics of the HOCl molecule for energies above the dissociation energy of the molecule. Above dissociation, we find that the classical dynamics is dominated by an invariant manifold which appears to stabilize two periodic orbits at energies significantly above the dissociation energy. These stable periodic orbits can hold a large number of quantum states and likely can support a significant quasibound state of the molecule, well above the dissociation energy. The classical dynamics and the lifetime of quantum states on the invariant manifold are determined.

ACCURATE AND HIGHLY EFFICIENT CALCULATION OF THE O(1D)HCl VIBRATIONAL BOUND STATES, USING A COMBINATION OF METHODS

Hypochlorous acid, HOCl, is an important intermediate in the O (1D) HCl reactive system. Due in part to a large number of vibrational bound states (over 800), extremely large direct product basis sets (around 300,000) are required to compute the energy levels just below the dissociation threshold. This situation, combined with a very high density of states, results in difficult convergence for iterative methods — e.g. Lanczos requires 50,000 iterations, and filter diagonalization uses 60,000 iterations. In contrast, using new methodologies, we are able to compute the highest-lying bound states with only 271 iterations, although the CPU cost per iteration is substantially greater. Lower lying states are also computed, for a fraction of the CPU cost of the highest energy calculation.

Chaotic scattering in a molecular system

We study the classical dynamics of bound state and scattering trajectories of the chlorine atom interacting with the HO molecule using a two-dimensional model in which the HO bond length is held fixed. The bound state system forms the HOCl molecule and at low energies is predominantly integrable. Below dissociation a number of bifurcations are observed, most notably a series of saddle-center bifurcations related to a 2:1 and at higher energies 3:1 resonance between bend and stretch motions. At energies above dissociation the classical phase space becomes dominated by a homoclinic tangle which induces a fractal distribution of singularities in all scattering functions. The structure of the homoclinic tangle is examined directly using Poincaré surfaces of section as well as indirectly through its influence on the time delay of the scattered chlorine atom and the angular momentum of the scattered HO molecule.

Accurate and highly efficient calculation of the highly excited pure OH stretching resonances of O(1D)HCl, using a combination of methods

Accurate calculation of the energies and widths of the resonances of HOCl--an important intermediate in the O(1D)HCl reactive system--poses a challenging benchmark for computational methods. The need for very large direct product basis sets, combined with an extremely high density of states, results in difficult convergence for iterative methods. A recent calculation of the highly excited OH stretch mode resonances using the filter diagonalization method, for example, required 462,000 basis functions, and 180,000 iterations. In contrast, using a combination of new methods, we are able to compute the same resonance states to higher accuracy with a basis less than half the size, using only a few hundred iterations-although the CPU cost per iteration is substantially greater. Similar performance enhancements are observed for calculations of the high-lying bound states, as reported in a previous paper [J. Theo. Comput. Chem. 2, 583 (2003)].

Analysis of Vibrationally Highly Excited Bound and Resonance States of DCO (X ˜2A′) Using an Effective Polyad Hamiltonian

The vibrational bound and resonance state structure of highly excited DCO (X

Influence of Vibrational Resonances and Coriolis Coupling on Dissociation Rates in the Near-threshold Unimolecular Fragmentation of HOCl

The unimolecular dissociation of HOCl in the ground electronic state near the HO+Cl fragmentation threshold is investigated employing an ab initio potential energy surface. The dynamics calculations are performed by using an imaginary absorbing potential and filter diagonalization. The computational study is mainly focused on the influence of accidental or systematic vibrational resonances on the total angular momentum dependence of dissociation rates and the importance of Coriolis interaction.