From angle-action to Cartesian coordinates: A key transformation for molecular dynamics

The transformation from angle-action variables to Cartesian coordinates is a crucial step of the (semi) classical description of bimolecular collisions and photo-fragmentations. The basic reason is that dynamical conditions corresponding to experiments are ideally generated in angle-action variables whereas the classical equations of motion are ideally solved in Cartesian coordinates by standard numerical approaches. To our knowledge, the previous transformation is available in the literature only for triatomic systems. The goal of the present work is to derive it for polyatomic ones.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phy

Semiclassical statistico-dynamical description of polyatomic photo-dissociations: State-resolved distributions

An alternative methodology to investigate indirect polyatomic processes with quasi-classical trajectories is proposed, which effectively avoids any binning or weighting procedure while provides rovibrational resolution. Initial classical states are started in terms of angle-action variables to closely match the quantum experimental conditions and later transformed into Cartesian coordinates, following an algorithm very recently published [J. Chem. Phys. 130, 114103 (2009)]. Trajectories are then propagated using the 'association' picture, i.e. an inverse dynamics simulation in the spirit of the exit-channel corrected phase space theory of Hamilton and Brumer [J. Chem. Phys. 82, 595 (1985)], which is shown to be particularly convenient. Finally, an approximate quasi-classical formula is provided which under general conditions can be used to add possible rotational structures into the vibrationally-resolved quasi-classical distributions. To introduce the method and illustrate its capabilities, correlated translational energy distributions from recent experiments in the photo-dissociation of ketene at 308 nm [J. Chem. Phys. 124, 014303 (2006)] are investigated. Quite generally, the overall theoretical algorithm reduces the total number of trajectories to integrate and allows for fully theoretical predictions of experiments on polyatomics.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys; v2: corrects Fig. 3 and its discussio

Surface Temperature Effects on the Dynamics of N₂ Eley-Rideal Recombination on W(100)

Quasiclassical trajectories simulations are performed to study the influence of surface temperature on the dynamics of a N atom colliding a N-preadsorbed W(100) surface under normal incidence. A generalized Langevin surface oscillator scheme is used to allow energy transfer between the nitrogen atoms and the surface. The influence of the surface temperature on the N2 formed molecules via Eley-Rideal recombination is analyzed at T = 300, 800, and 1500 K. Ro-vibrational distributions of the N2 molecules are only slightly affected by the presence of the thermal bath whereas kinetic energy is rather strongly decreased when going from a static surface model to a moving surface one. In terms of reactivity, the moving surface model leads to an increase of atomic trapping cross section yielding to an increase of the so-called hot atoms population and a decrease of the direct Eley-Rideal cross section. The energy exchange between the surface and the nitrogen atoms is semi-quantitatively interpreted by a simple binary collision model

Dynamics of H2 Eley-Rideal abstraction from W(110): Sensitivity to the representation of the molecule-surface potential

Dynamics of the Eley-Rideal (ER) abstraction of H2 from W(110) is analyzed by means of quasi-classical trajectory calculations. Simulations are based on two different molecule-surface potential energy surfaces (PES) constructed from Density Functional Theory results. One PES is obtained by fitting, using a Flexible Periodic London-Eyring-Polanyi-Sato (FPLEPS) functional form, and the other by interpolation through the corrugation reducing procedure (CRP). Then, the present study allows us to elucidate the ER dynamics sensitivity on the PES representation. Despite some sizable discrepancies between both H+H/W(110) PESs, the obtained projectile-energy dependence of the total ER cross sections are qualitatively very similar ensuring that the main physical ingredients are captured in both PES models. The obtained distributions of the final energy among the different molecular degrees of freedom barely depend on the PES model, being most likely determined by the reaction exothermicity. Therefore, a reasonably good agreement with the measured final vibrational state distribution is observed in spite of the pressure and material gaps between theoretical and experimental conditions.Fil: Petuya, R.. Universite de Bordeaux; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Institut des Sciences Moléculaires; FranciaFil: Larregaray, P.. Universite de Bordeaux; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Institut des Sciences Moléculaires; FranciaFil: Crespos, C.. Universite de Bordeaux; Francia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Institut des Sciences Moléculaires; FranciaFil: Busnengo, Heriberto Fabio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); ArgentinaFil: Martinez, Alejandra Elisa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Instituto de Física de Rosario (i); Argentin

Random force in molecular dynamics with electronic friction

Originally conceived to describe thermal diffusion, the Langevin equation includes both a frictional drag and a random force, the latter representing thermal fluctuations first seen as Brownian motion. The random force is crucial for the diffusion problem as it explains why friction does not simply bring the system to a standstill. When using the Langevin equation to describe ballistic motion, the importance of the random force is less obvious and it is often omitted, for example, in theoretical treatments of hot ions and atoms interacting with metals. Here, friction results from electronic nonadiabaticity (electronic friction), and the random force arises from thermal electron–hole pairs. We show the consequences of omitting the random force in the dynamics of H-atom scattering from metals. We compare molecular dynamics simulations based on the Langevin equation to experimentally derived energy loss distributions. Despite the fact that the incidence energy is much larger than the thermal energy and the scattering time is only about 25 fs, the energy loss distribution fails to reproduce the experiment if the random force is neglected. Neglecting the random force is an even more severe approximation than freezing the positions of the metal atoms or modelling the lattice vibrations as a generalized Langevin oscillator. This behavior can be understood by considering analytic solutions to the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process, where a ballistic particle experiencing friction decelerates under the influence of thermal fluctuations

Dynamical Reaction Pathways in Eley-Rideal Recombination of Nitrogen from W(100)

The scattering of atomic nitrogen over a N-pre-adsorbed W(100) surface is theoretically described in the case of normal incidence off a single adsorbate. Dynamical reaction mechanisms, in particular Eley-Rideal (ER) abstraction, are scrutinized in the 0.1-3.0 eV collision energy range and the influence of temperature on reactivity is considered between 300 and 1500 K. Dynamics simulations suggest that, though non-activated reaction pathways exist, the abstraction process exhibits a significant collision energy threshold (0.5 eV). Such a feature, which has not been reported so far in the literature, is the consequence of a repulsive interaction between the impinging and the pre-adsorbed nitrogens along with a strong attraction towards the tungsten atoms. Above threshold, the cross section for ER reaction is found one order of magnitude lower than the one for hot-atoms formation. The abstraction process involves the collision of the impinging atom with the surface prior to reaction but temperature effects, when modeled via a generalized Langevin oscillator model, do not affect significantly reactivity

Ultrafast solvent response upon a change of the solute size in non-polar supercritical fluids

Non-polar solvation dynamics has been investigated using steady-state absorption and emission spectroscopy of the NO A(2)Sigma(+)(3ssigma) Rydberg state in fluid Ar over a wide range of densities spanning the supercritical regime. Equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations were implemented to derive a new isotropic NO A(3ssigma)-Ar pair potential which was further used to investigate the role of local density enhancements on the solvation process by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. These density inhomogeneities were found to have no influence on the solvation dynamics. Furthermore, the latter was shown to take place in a strongly non-linear regime, especially at low temperatures. This process results from the dramatic change of solute-solvent short range interaction associated with the large solute size change upon excitation to the Rydberg state

Influence of Surface Symmetry on the Onset of Nitrogen Eley-Rideal Recombination on Tungsten

Classical trajectory simulations, using potential energy surfaces of ab initio quality, are performed to investigate the influence of crystal symmetry on the Eley-Rideal abstraction dynamics of N atoms colliding, under normal incidence, N-preadsorbed tungsten (100) and (110) surfaces. Low-energy reactivity (\u3c0.5 eV collision energy) results much higher for the (110) crystallographic plane. Such a feature stems from the topology of the interactions upon approach of the N-gas atom toward the N adsorbate: the strong lateral corrugation responsible for a significant threshold for recombination on the (100) surface is much smoother on the (110) plane, allowing low-energy incident atoms to react. Temperature is found to only slightly affect reactivity

The Dynamics of the S(1D)+H2/D2 Reactions at Low Temperature via Statistical Simulations

Two different statistical approaches, the statistical quantum model (SQM) and the mean potential phase space theory (MPPST), have been employed to calculate the integral cross sections for the reactive collisions between S(1D) and H2/ D2  in the low energy regime (below 0.3 eV collisional energy). The rate constant for the S(1D) + H2 → SH + H reaction has been also obtained and compared with previously reported experimental and theoretical results. The good agreement shows the capability of these two methods to study the dynamics of these complex-forming atom-diatom processes in the present energy regime