MQCT 2024: A program for calculations of inelastic scattering of two molecules (new version announcement)
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Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Joy, Carolin.
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The extension of mixed quantum/classical theory (MQCT) to describe collisional energy transfer is developed for a symmetric-top-rotor + linear-rotor system and is applied to ND 3 + D 2 . State-to-state transition cross sections are computed in a broad energy range for all possible processes: when both ND 3 and D 2 molecules are excited or both are quenched, when one is excited while the other is quenched and vice versa, when the ND 3 state changes its parity while D 2 is excited or quenched, and when ND 3 is excited or quenched while D 2 remains in the same state, ground or excited. In all these processes the results of MQCT are found to approximately satisfy the principle of microscopic reversibility. For a set of sixteen state-to-state transitions available from the literature for a collision energy of 800 cm –1 the values of cross sections predicted by MQCT are within 8% of accurate full-quantum results. A useful time-dependent insight is obtained by monitoring the evolution of state populations along MQCT trajectories. It is shown that, if before the collision, D 2 is in its ground state, the excitation of ND 3 rotational states proceeds through a two-step mechanism in which the kinetic energy of molecule–molecule collision is first used to excite D 2 and only then is transferred to the excited rotational states of ND 3 . Finally, it is found that both potential coupling and Coriolis coupling play important roles in ND 3 + D 2 collisions.
Manifestation of the quantum interference effect in the oscillation of scattering cross section is explored using the N 2 + O system as a case study. Calculations are carried out for two electronic PESs of the system, for various initial rotational states of N 2 , in a broad range of N 2 + O collision energies and using three theoretical methods: two versions of the approximate mixed quantum/classical theory (MQCT and AT-MQCT) and the accurate full-quantum coupled-channel method (implemented in MOLSCAT). A good agreement between different methods is observed, especially at high energies. Elastic scattering cross-sections oscillate as a function of collision energy, which is the result of quantum interference. The effects of initial rotational excitation and of the PES properties are studied in detail. For the final (thermally averaged) cross sections, both MOLSCAT and MQCT calculations predict a rather regular pattern of quantum oscillations that persist through a broad range of collision energies and expand into the low-energy regime where quantum scattering resonances are common. The difference between cross sections predicted by MQCT and MOLSCAT decreases from ~8% at low energies to ~2% at high energies. Finally, experimental data available at high collision energies are well reproduced.