3 research outputs found
Dynamical tunneling in molecules: Quantum routes to energy flow
Dynamical tunneling, introduced in the molecular context, is more than two
decades old and refers to phenomena that are classically forbidden but allowed
by quantum mechanics. On the other hand the phenomenon of intramolecular
vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) has occupied a central place in the
field of chemical physics for a much longer period of time. Although the two
phenomena seem to be unrelated several studies indicate that dynamical
tunneling, in terms of its mechanism and timescales, can have important
implications for IVR. Examples include the observation of local mode doublets,
clustering of rotational energy levels, and extremely narrow vibrational
features in high resolution molecular spectra. Both the phenomena are strongly
influenced by the nature of the underlying classical phase space. This work
reviews the current state of understanding of dynamical tunneling from the
phase space perspective and the consequences for intramolecular vibrational
energy flow in polyatomic molecules.Comment: 37 pages and 23 figures (low resolution); Int. Rev. Phys. Chem.
(Review to appear in Oct. 2007
Effective Hamiltonian and unitarity of the S matrix
The properties of open quantum systems are described well by an effective
Hamiltonian that consists of two parts: the Hamiltonian of the
closed system with discrete eigenstates and the coupling matrix between
discrete states and continuum. The eigenvalues of determine the
poles of the matrix. The coupling matrix elements
between the eigenstates of and the continuum may be very
different from the coupling matrix elements between the eigenstates
of and the continuum. Due to the unitarity of the matrix, the
\TW_k^{cc'} depend on energy in a non-trivial manner, that conflicts with the
assumptions of some approaches to reactions in the overlapping regime. Explicit
expressions for the wave functions of the resonance states and for their phases
in the neighbourhood of, respectively, avoided level crossings in the complex
plane and double poles of the matrix are given.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure
A Quantum Mechanical Study of Ozone Isotope Effect
The rate of ozone recombination, O2 + O + M → O3 + M, is strongly sensitive to the masses of the participating oxygen isotopes—the effect ultimately leading to the unconventional fractionations of ozone isotopomers in the Earth atmosphere. The mass dependence for asymmetric molecules is reconstructed, within the strong collision approximation, from the partial widths of narrow resonances of O3 and demonstrated to stem from the contributions of highly rotationally excited ozones