Diatomic predissociation line widths

Abstract

Predissociation by rotation and curve crossing in diatomic molecules is discussed. The pattern of predissociation line widths is seen as providing a highly sensitive yardstick for the determination of unknown potential curves. In addition, the computation of such a pattern for given potential curves is considered a matter of routine, unless the predissociation happens to occur from an adiabatic potential curve. Analytic formulas are used to provide physical insight into the details of the predissociation pattern, to the extent that a direct inversion procedure is developed for determination of the repulsive potential curves for Type 1 predissociations.