The H + D2 → HD + D Reaction. Quasiclassical Trajectory Study of Cross Sections, Rate Constants, and Kinetic Isotope Effect

Experimental and theoretical studies of the Xe-OH(A/X) quenching system

New multi-reference, global ab initio potential energy surfaces (PESs) are reported for the interaction of Xe atoms with OH radicals in their ground X²Π and excited A²Σ⁺ states, together with the non-adiabatic couplings between them. The 2A' excited potential features a very deep well at the collinear Xe-OH configuration whose minimum corresponds to the avoided crossing with the 1A' PES. It is therefore expected that, as with collisions of Kr + OH(A), electronic quenching will play a major role in the dynamics, competing favorably with rotational energy transfer within the 2A' state. The surfaces and couplings are used in full three-state surface-hopping trajectory calculations, including roto-electronic couplings, to calculate integral cross sections for electronic quenching and collisional removal. Experimental cross sections, measured using Zeeman quantum beat spectroscopy, are also presented here for comparison with these calculations. Unlike similar previous work on the collisions of OH(A) with Kr, the surface-hopping calculations are only able to account qualitatively for the experimentally observed electronic quenching cross sections, with those calculated being around a factor of two smaller than the experimental ones. However, the predicted total depopulation of the initial rovibrational state of OH(A) (quenching plus rotational energy transfer) agrees well with the experimental results. Possible reasons for the discrepancies are discussed in detail.

Influence of the Reactants Rotational Excitation on the H + D2(v = 0, j) Reactivity

We have analyzed the influence of the rotational excitation on the H + D2(v = 0, j) reaction through quantum mechanical (QM) and quasiclassical trajectories (QCT) calculations at a wide range of total energies. The agreement between both types of calculations is excellent. We have found that the rotational excitation largely increases the reactivity at large values of the total energy. Such an increase cannot be attributed to a stereodynamical effect but to the existence of recrossing trajectories that become reactive as the target molecule gets rotationally excited. At low total energies, however, recrossing is not significant and the reactivity evolution is dominated by changes in the collision energy; the reactivity decreases with the collision energy as it shrinks the acceptance cone. When state-to-state results are considered, rotational excitation leads to cold product's rovibrational distributions, so that most of the energy is released as recoil energy.

Quasi-classical trajectory study of the reaction dynamics of calcium ground state and metastable atoms with CH2Cl2

The dynamics properties of the Ca(1S0,3P) + CH2Cl2 reaction system have been calculated by means of the quasi-classical trajectory method based on the extended London–Eyring–Polanyi–Sato potential energy surface. By the calculations, the vibrational distribution, reaction cross section, rotational alignment, and reaction rate constant are obtained. The peak location of vibrational quantum numbers is at ν = 0 when the collision energy is 2.302 kcal/mol, whether the calcium atom is at the ground state or metastable state. The product vibrational distribution agrees well with the experiment value in Han, K. L.; He, G. Z.; Lou, N. Q. Chem. Phys. Lett. 1991, 178, 528. The cross section thoroughly decreases with the increase of the collision energy. The rotational alignment of the product greatly deviates from –0.5. The reaction rate constant increases with rising temperature.

The Cl + O3 reaction: a detailed QCT simulation of molecular beam experiments

QCT calculations have been carried out to determine angle–velocity differential cross-sections to simulate the results of molecular beam experiments.

Time-dependent wave packet quantum scattering and quasi-classical trajectory calculations of the H + FCl(v=0,j=0) → HF + Cl/HCl + F reaction

The dynamics of the title reaction are investigated using both time-dependent wave packet quantum scattering and quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) methods on adiabatic ground 1(2)A' potential energy surface (PES). Compared with the quantum results of reaction probabilities of H + FCl(J=0) → HF + Cl/HCl + F, the QCT method is proven feasible and further employed to produce integral cross sections and rate constants. Significant resonance structures are observed in the reaction probabilities using the quantum method; however, there are some undulations in the calculated QCT integral cross sections for both product channels. A comparison between the quantum mechanical coupled-channel (CC) calculation and centrifugal sudden approximation calculation reveals the very important role of Coriolis coupling effects in the quantum calculation. Comparisons between the calculated thermal rate constants for both reactions and the previous theoretical and experimental results have been done. HCl product formation is favored over the HF product in the reactive system. Finally, the HF products are found to be mainly forward scattering, and the HCl products are mainly backward scattering.

Dynamics of the reactions of muonium and deuterium atoms with vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules: tunneling and vibrational adiabaticity

Quantum mechanical (QM) and quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) calculations have been carried out for the exchange reactions of D and Mu (Mu = muonium) with hydrogen molecules in their ground and first vibrational states. In all the cases considered, the QM rate coefficients, k(T), are in very good agreement with the available experimental results. In particular, QM calculations on the most accurate potential energy surfaces (PESs) predict a rate coefficient for the Mu + H(2) (ν = 1) reaction which is very close to the preliminary estimate of its experimental value at 300 K. In contrast to the D + H(2) (ν = 0,1) and the Mu + H(2) (ν = 0) reactions, the QCT calculations for Mu + H(2) (ν = 1) predict a much smaller k(T) than that obtained with the accurate QM method. This behaviour is indicative of tunneling. The QM reaction probabilities and total reactive cross sections show that the total energy thresholds for the reactions of Mu with H(2) in ν = 0 and ν = 1 are very similar, whereas for the corresponding reaction with D the ν = 0 total energy threshold is about 0.3 eV lower than that for ν = 1. The results just mentioned can be explained by considering the vibrational adiabatic potentials along the minimum energy path. The threshold for the reaction of Mu with H(2) in both ν = 0 and ν = 1 states is the same and is given by the height of the ground vibrational adiabatic collinear potential, whereas for the D + H(2) reaction the adiabaticity is preserved and the threshold for the reaction in ν = 1 is very close to the height of the ν = 1 adiabatic collinear barrier. For Mu + H(2) (ν = 1) the reaction takes place by crossing from the ν = 1 to the ν = 0 adiabat, since the exit channel leading to MuH (ν = 1) is not energetically accessible. At the lowest possible energies, the non-adiabatic vibrational crossing implies a strong tunneling effect through the ν = 1 adiabatic barrier. Absence of tunneling in the classical calculations results in a threshold that coincides with the height of the ν = 1 adiabatic barrier. Most interestingly, the expected tunneling effect in the reaction of Mu with hydrogen molecules occurs for H(2) (ν = 1) but not for H(2) (ν = 0) where zero-point-energy effects clearly dominate.

Cumulative reaction probabilities: A comparison between quasiclassical and quantum mechanical results

This article presents a quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) method for determining the cumulative reaction probability (CRP) as a function of the total energy. The method proposed is based on a discrete sampling using integer values of the total and orbital angular momentum quantum numbers for each trajectory and on the development of equations that have a clear counterpart in the quantum mechanical (QM) case. The calculations comprise cumulative reaction probabilities at a given total angular momentum J, as well as those summed over J. The latter are used to compute QCT rate constants. The method is illustrated by comparing QCT and exact QM results for the H+H2, H+D2, D+H2, and H+HD reactions. The agreement between QCT and QM results is very good, with small discrepancies between the two data sets indicating some genuine quantum effects. The most important of these involves the value of the CRP at low energies which, due to the absence of tunneling, is lower in the QCT calculations, causing the corresponding rate constants to be smaller. The second is the steplike structure that is clearly displayed in the QM CRP for J = 0, which is much smoother in the corresponding QCT results. However, when the QCT density of reactive states, i.e., the derivatives of the QCT CRP with respect to the energy, is calculated, a succession of maxima and minima is obtained which roughly resembles those found in the QM calculations, although the latter are considerably sharper. The analysis of the broad peaks in the QCT density of reactive states indicates that the distributions of collision times associated with the maxima are somewhat broader, with a tail extending to larger collision times, than those associated with the minima. In addition, the QM and QCT dynamics of the isotopic variants mentioned above are compared in the light of their CRPs. Issues such as the compliance of the QCT CRP with the law of microscopic reversibility, as well as the similarity between the CRPs for ortho and para species in the QM and QCT cases, are also addressed.

Influence of rotation and isotope effects on the dynamics of the N(D2)+H2 reactive system and of its deuterated variants

Integral cross sections and thermal rate constants have been calculated for the N((2)D)+H(2) reaction and its isotopic variants N((2)D)+D(2) and the two-channel N((2)D)+HD by means of quasiclassical trajectory and statistical quantum-mechanical model methods on the latest ab initio potential-energy surface [T.-S. Ho et al., J. Chem. Phys. 119, 3063 (2003)]. The effect of rotational excitation of the diatom on the dynamics of these reactions has been investigated and interesting discrepancies between the classical and statistical model calculations have been found. Whereas a net effect of reagent rotation on reactivity is always observed in the classical calculations, only a very slight effect is observed in the case of the asymmetric N((2)D)+HD reaction for the statistical quantum-mechanical method. The thermal rate constants calculated on this Potential-Energy Surface using quasiclassical trajectory and statistical model methods are in good agreement with the experimental determinations, although the latter are somewhat larger. A reevaluation of the collinear barrier of the potential surface used in the present study seems timely. Further theoretical and experimental studies are needed for a full understanding of the dynamics of the title reaction.

Quasiclassical determination of reaction probabilities as a function of the total angular momentum

This article presents a quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) method to determine the reaction probability as a function of the total angular momentum J for any given value of the initial rotational angular momentum j. The proposed method is based on a discrete sampling of the total and orbital angular momenta for each trajectory and on the development of equations that have a clear counterpart in the quantum-mechanical (QM) case. The reliability of the method is illustrated by comparing QCT and time-dependent wave-packet QM results for the H+D(2)(upsilon=0,j=4,10) reaction. The small discrepancies between both sets of calculations, when they exist, indicate some genuine quantum effects. In addition, a procedure to extract the reaction probabilities as a function of J when trajectories are calculated in the usual way using a continuous distribution of impact parameters is also described.

Three Dimensional Quantum Dynamics of (H-, H2) and Its Isotopic Variants

We present the results of a time-dependent quantum mechanical investigation using centrifugal sudden approximation in the form of reaction probability as a function of collision energy (E(trans)) in the range 0.3-3.0 eV for a range of total angular momentum (J) values and the excitation function sigma(E(trans)) for the exchange reaction H(-) + H(2) (v = 0, j = 0) --> H(2) + H(-) and its isotopic variants in three dimensions on an accurate ab initio potential energy surface published recently (J. Chem. Phys. 2004, 121, 9343). The excitation function results are shown to be in excellent agreement with those obtained from crossed beam measurements by Zimmer and Linder for H(-) + D(2) collisions for energies below the threshold for electron detachment channel and somewhat larger than the most recent results of Haufler et al. for (H(-), D(2)) and (D(-), H(2)) collisions.