Ab initio 3D potential energy and dipole moment surfaces for the CH4-Ar complex: Collision-induced intensity and dimer content

Fitting potential energy and induced dipole surfaces of the van der Waals complex CH4-N2 using non-product quadrature grids

We present an extensive study of the five-dimensional potential energy and induced dipole surfaces of the CH₄-N₂ complex assuming rigid-rotor approximation. Within the supermolecular approach, ab initio calculations of the interaction energies and dipoles were carried out at the CCSD(T)-F12 and CCSD(T) levels of theory using the correlation-consistent aug-cc-pVTZ basis set, respectively. Both potential energy and induced dipole surfaces inherit the symmetry of the molecular system and transform under the A₁⁺ and A₂⁺ irreducible representations of the molecular symmetry group G₄₈, respectively. One can take advantage of the symmetry when fitting the surfaces; first, when constructing angular basis functions and second, when selecting the grid points. The approach to the construction of scalar and vectorial basis functions exploiting the eigenfunction method [Q. Chen, J. Ping and F. Wang, Group Representation Theory for Physicists, World Scientific, 2nd edn, 2002] is developed. We explore the use of Sobolev-type quadrature grids as building blocks of robust quadrature rules adapted to the symmetry of the molecular system. Temperature variations of the cross second virial coefficient and first classical spectral moments of the rototranslational collision-induced band were derived. A reasonable agreement between calculated values and experimental data was found attesting to the high quality of constructed surfaces.

Semiclassical methods for calculating radiative association rate constants for different thermodynamic conditions: Application to formation of CO, CN, and SiN

It is well-known that resonances can serve as a catalyst for molecule formation. Rate constants for resonance-induced molecule formation are phenomenological as they depend upon the mechanism used to populate the resonances. Standard treatments assume tunneling from the continuum is the only available population mechanism, which means long-lived quasibound states are essentially unpopulated. However, if a fast resonance population mechanism exists, the long-lived quasibound states may be populated and give rise to a substantial increase in the molecule formation rate constant. In the present work, we show that the semiclassical formula of Kramers and ter Haar [Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 10, 137 (1946)] may be used to compute rate constants for radiative association in the limit of local thermodynamic equilibrium. Comparisons are made with quantum mechanical and standard semiclassical treatments, and results are shown for two limits which provide upper and lower bounds for the six most important radiative association reactions leading to the formation of CO, CN, and SiN. These results may have implications for interstellar chemistry in molecular clouds, where the environmental and thermodynamic conditions often are uncertain.