F. Javier Aoiz

A detailed quantum mechanical and quasiclassical trajectory study on the dynamics of the H++H2→H2+H+ exchange reaction

The H+ + H2 exchange reaction has been studied theoretically by means of a different variety of methods as an exact time independent quantum mechanical, approximate quantum wave packet, statistical quantum, and quasiclassical trajectory approaches. Total and state-to-state reaction probabilities in terms of the collision energy for different values of the total angular momentum obtained with these methods are compared. The dynamics of the reaction is extensively studied at the collision energy of E(coll)=0.44 eV. Integral and differential cross sections and opacity functions at this collision energy have been calculated. In particular, the fairly good description of the exact quantum results provided by the statistical quantum method suggests that the dynamics of the process is governed by an insertion mechanism with the formation of a long-lived collision complex.

Dynamics of the C(D1)+D2 reaction: A comparison of crossed molecular-beam experiments with quasiclassical trajectory and accurate statistical calculations

In this paper we report a combined experimental and theoretical study on the dynamics of the insertion reaction C((1)D)+D(2) at 15.5 kJ mol(-1) collision energy. Product angular and velocity distributions have been obtained in crossed beam experiments and quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) and rigorous statistical calculations have been performed on the recent and accurate ab initio potential energy surface of Bussery-Honvault, Honvault, and Launay at the energy of the experiment. The molecular-beam results have been simulated using the theoretical calculations. Good agreement between experiment and both QCT and statistical predictions is found.

Experimental and theoretical differential cross sections for the reactions Cl+H2/D2

Experimental and theoretical differential cross sections for the reactions between Cl atoms and two isotopic variants of molecular hydrogen (H2 and D2) are presented. The experimental results have been obtained by using the crossed molecular beam method with mass spectrometric detection. The theoretical results have been computed using both the quasiclassical trajectory and quantum mechanical (QM) methods. The potential energy surface employed for the calculations is the ab initio BW2 surface by Bian and Werner [J. Chem. Phys. 112, 220 (2000)]. The theoretical results have been directly compared to the experiments in the laboratory frame at a collision energy (Ec) of 4.25 and 5.85 kcal/mol for the Cl+H2 reaction and of 4.9 and 6.3 kcal/mol for the Cl+D2 reaction. The agreement between QM results and experiment is quite satisfactory for the Cl+D2 reaction, especially for the low collision energy, while for Cl+H2 is less good, especially when considering data at the lower Ec.

On the dynamics of the H(+) + D2(v=0, j=0) --> HD + D(+) reaction: A comparison between theory and experiment

The H+ +D2(v=0,j=0)-->HD+D + reaction has been theoretically investigated by means of a time independent exact quantum mechanical approach, a quantum wave packet calculation within an adiabatic centrifugal sudden approximation, a statistical quantum model, and a quasiclassical trajectory calculation. Besides reaction probabilities as a function of collision energy at different values of the total angular momentum, J, special emphasis has been made at two specific collision energies, 0.1 and 0.524 eV. The occurrence of distinctive dynamical behavior at these two energies is analyzed in some detail. An extensive comparison with previous experimental measurements on the Rydberg H atom with D2 molecules has been carried out at the higher collision energy. In particular, the present theoretical results have been employed to perform simulations of the experimental kinetic energy spectra.

Implementation of a fast analytic ground state potential energy surface for the N(2D)+H2 reaction

A new implementation is presented for the potential energy surface (PES) of the 1 2A″ state of the N(2D)+H2 system based on a set of 2715 ab initio points resulting from the multireference configuration interaction (MRCI) calculations. The implementation is carried out using the reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space interpolation method. Range parameters, via bond-order-like coordinates, are properly chosen to render a sufficiently short-range three-body interaction and a regularization procedure is invoked to yield a globally smooth PES. A fast algorithm, with the help of low-order spline reproducing kernels, is implemented for the computation of the PES and, particularly, its gradients, whose fast evaluation is essential for large scale quasi-classical trajectory calculations. It is found that the new PES can be evaluated more than ten times faster than that of an existing (old) PES based on a smaller number (1141) of data points resulting from the same MRCI calculations and a similar interpolation procedure...

Seemingly Anomalous Angular Distributions in H + D2 Reactive Scattering

Spinning Backwards When atoms and molecules collide, the energy embedded in the reaction products gets distributed among translations, vibrations, and rotations. Decades of meticulous experiments have mapped out the quantum mechanical rules underlying this distribution process, particularly in simple systems comprising just three light atoms. Now, Jankunas et al. (p. 1687; see the Perspective by Yang et al.) describe a previously unappreciated wrinkle in the elementary reaction of an H atom with deuterium. Typically, products with low vibrational and rotational excitation tend to scatter backwards from the collision, whereas the spinning products scatter sideways. Above a certain vibrational threshold, however, spinning HD products were observed to scatter backwards. An elementary chemical reaction manifests unexpectedly complex rotational dynamics. When a hydrogen (H) atom approaches a deuterium (D2) molecule, the minimum-energy path is for the three nuclei to line up. Consequently, nearly collinear collisions cause HD reaction products to be backscattered with low rotational excitation, whereas more glancing collisions yield sideways-scattered HD products with higher rotational excitation. Here we report that measured cross sections for the H + D2 → HD(v′ = 4, j′) + D reaction at a collision energy of 1.97 electron volts contradict this behavior. The anomalous angular distributions match closely fully quantum mechanical calculations, and for the most part quasiclassical trajectory calculations. As the energy available in product recoil is reduced, a rotational barrier to reaction cuts off contributions from glancing collisions, causing high-j′ HD products to become backward scattered.

Spatial distributions of angular momenta in quantum and quasiclassical stereodynamics

We have recently reported a derivation of the relationship between the quantum and classical descriptions of angular momentum polarization [M. P. de Miranda and F. Javier Aoiz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 083201 (2004)]. This paper presents a detailed account of the derivation outlined in that paper, and discusses the implications of the new results. These include (i) a new expression of the role of the uncertainty principle in the broadening of angular momentum distributions, (ii) the attribution of azimuthal fluctuations of angular momentum distributions to spatial quantum beats, (iii) the definition of a new Fourier transform of the density matrix, distinct from those suggested in the past, that provides an alternative view of how the quantum description of angular momentum polarization approaches the classical one in the correspondence principle limit, (iv) a prescription for the determination of a quasiclassical angular momentum distribution function that does not suffer from problems encountered with its purely classical counterpart, and (v) a description of how angular momentum distributions commonly visualized with recourse to the classical vector model can be depicted with exact and well-defined quantum mechanics.

Dynamics of the Cl+D2 reaction: a comparison of crossed molecular beam experiments with quasi-classical trajectory calculations on a new ab initio potential energy surface

Abstract The dynamics of the Cl+D2 reaction has been studied experimentally at the collision energies 4.9 and 6.3 kcal mol−1 by the crossed molecular beam technique. The experimental results have been compared with theoretical predictions based on quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) calculations on the new BW potential energy surface (PES), and a good general agreement has been obtained. The QCT results obtained on the BW PES have been compared with those obtained on the previous semiempirical G3 PES, and striking differences regarding the effect of reagent rotation j on the reactivity have been found.

Dynamics of the insertion reaction C(1D) + H2: A comparison of crossed molecular beam experiments with quasiclassical trajectory and quantum mechanical scattering calculations

In this paper we report a combined experimental and theoretical study on the dynamics of the prototype insertion reaction C(1D) + H2. Product angular and velocity distributions have been obtained in crossed beam experiments at two collision energies of 7.8 and 16.0 kJ mol−1. Quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) and quantum mechanical (QM) scattering calculations have been carried out on a recent accurate ab initio potential energy surface at the energies of the experiments. The molecular beam results have been simulated using the theoretical calculations. Reasonably good agreement between experiment and theory is found.

Is the simplest chemical reaction really so simple

Modern computational methods have become so powerful for predicting the outcome for the H + H2 → H2 + H bimolecular exchange reaction that it might seem further experiments are not needed. Nevertheless, experiments have led the way to cause theorists to look more deeply into this simplest of all chemical reactions. The findings are less simple.