The special features of rotationally resolved differential cross sections of the F + H2 reaction at small scattering angles

We studied the nature and collision energy dependence of the maximum that appears in the angular distributions of the HF (v′ = 3) product of the F + H₂ (v = 0; j = 0, 1, 2) → H + HF (v′, j′) reaction at small scattering angles θ in the center-of-mass frame. This maximum and its increase as the collision energy increased were discovered in the well-known experiment described by D.M. Neumark, A.M. Wodtke, G.N. Robinson, C.C. Hayden, and Y.T. Lee, J. Chem. Phys. 82 (7), 3045 (1985). In order to determine the nature of the maximum, we performed quantum-mechanical simulation of the reaction on the Stark-Werner ground state potential energy surface at collision energies of 1.84, 2.74, and 3.42 kcal/mol corresponding to the above-mentioned experiment and calculated the vibrationally and rotationally resolved differential cross sections dσ_v′j′/dΩ of the reaction. The maximum under consideration was found to be due to a superposition of two effects, namely, the absence of HF (v′ = 3; j′) products with large j′ because of energy restrictions and an increase in the relative amplitude of quantum-mechanical oscillations on dσ_v′j′/dΩ cross sections at small j′ and θ as v′ increased. Oscillations on dσ_3j′ /dΩ cross sections with small j′ are responsible for the maximum observed.