The lowest electronic states of Ne2 +, Ar2 + and Kr2 +: comparison of theory and experiment

Non-relativistic configuration interaction (CI) ab initio calculations using large basis sets have been carried out to determine the potential curves of the first electronic states of Ne₂ ⁺, Ar₂ ⁺ and Kr₂ ⁺. The spin—orbit interaction was treated assuming that the spin—orbit coupling constant is independent of the internuclear separation (R). For Ar₂ ⁺, calculated dissociation energies and equilibrium separations are in good agreement with experimental results. The calculations for Ne₂ ⁺ suggest that the lowest vibrational level of the I(1/2u) ground state observed by threshold photoelectron spectroscopy by Hall et al. [1995, J. Phys. B: At. molec. opt. Phys., 28, 2435] and assigned to either ν = 0 or ν = 2 actually corresponds to ν = 4. The calculations also predict the I(1/2g) state of Ne₂ ⁺ and Ar₂ ⁺ to possess a double-well potential and that of Kr₂ ⁺ to be repulsive at short range and to only possess a single shallow well at large internuclear separation. The ab initio calculations provide an explanation for the observation made by Yoshii et al. [2002, J. chem. Phys., 117, 1517] that Kr₂ ⁺ and Xe₂ ⁺ dissociate after photoemission from the II(1/2u) state to the I(1/2g) state whereas Ar₂ ⁺ does not.     

Absolute line intensities in the ν1 + 3ν3 band of 12C2H2 by laser photoacoustic spectroscopy and Fourier transform spectroscopy

Line intensities and self-broadening coefficients in the ν₁ + 3ν₃ band of ¹²C₂H₂ near 0.8 μm at room temperature were measured by means of both laser photoacoustic and Fourier transform spectroscopy. An experimental protocol has been developed to obtain absolute intensities from the photoacoustic measurements. Namely, the spectrometer was calibrated using water vapour line intensities available in Hitran 1996 [L. S. Rothman et al. (1998) J. quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer, 60, 665–710]. These photoacoustic line intensities were found to be on average 5% higher than corresponding measurements performed using Fourier transform spectroscopy, the accuracy of the latter being estimated to better than 4%. The accuracy of the photoacoustic intensities is discussed. Previous results from the literature [F. Herregodts, D. Hurtmans, J. Vander Auwera, and M. Herman (1999) J. chem. Phys., 111, 7954—7960] are revised.     

A quasi-classical trajectory study of the Cl + H<Subscript>2</Subscript> (D<Subscript>2</Subscript>) reaction on a new BW3 potential energy surface

Molecular reaction dynamics of Cl + H₂ (D₂) has been studied on the latest analytical potential energy surface called BW3 using the Monte Carlo quasi-classical trajectory method. Excitation functions, differential cross sections and angular distributions of HCl and DCl products have been calculated. The excitation functions of the Cl (²P_3/2) + n-H₂ and Cl(²P_3/2) + n-D₂ reactions are also studied. The results are compared with those of quasi-classical trajectory [M. Alagia et al.: Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2 (2000); F. J. Aoiz et al.: J. Phys. Chem. 100 (1996)], quantum mechanical (QM) calculations [F. J. Aoiz et al.:J. Chem. Phys. 115 (2001)] and experimental data [S. H. Lee et al.: J. Chem. Phys. 110 (1999); F. Dong et al.: J. Chem. Phys. 115 (2001)]. Discussions are given to some new results.     

A precise solution of the rotation bending Schrödinger equation for a triatomic molecule with application to the water molecule

In this paper we report the results of improving the non-rigid bender formulation of the rotation-vibration Hamiltonian of a triatomic molecule [see A. R. Hoy and P. R. Bunker, J. Mol. Spectrosc., 52, 439 (1974)]. This improved Hamiltonian can be diagonalized as before by a combination of numerical integration and matrix diagonalization and it yields rotation-bending energies to high values of the rotational quantum numbers. We have calculated all the rotational energy levels up to J = 10 for the (v₁, v₂, v₃) states (0, 0, 0) and (0, 1, 0) for both H₂O and D₂O. By least squares fitting to the observations varying seven parameters we have refined the equilibrium structure and force field of the water molecule and have obtained a fit to the 375 experimental energies used with a root mean square deviation of 0.05 cm^?1. The equilibrium bond angle and bond length are determined to be 104.48° and 0.9578 Å respectively. We have also calculated these energy levels using the ab initio equilibrium geometry and force constants of Rosenberg, Ermler and Shavitt [J. Chem. Phys., 65, 4072 (1976)] and this is then the first complete ab initio calculation of rotation-vibration energy levels of high J in a polyatomic molecule to this precision. the rms fit of these ab initio energies to the experimental energies for the H₂O molecule is 2.65 cm^?1.     

A refined potential energy surface and the rovibrational states for the electronic ground state of ozone

A potential energy surface for the electronic ground state of ozone has been optimized by using a variational procedure with the exact vibrational Hamiltonian in bond length-bond angle coordinates. In the optimization, the ab initio force field of Borowski, P., Andersson, K., Malmquist, P.-A., and Roos, B. O., 1992, J. chem. Phys., 97, 5568 is taken as the starting point, and the recent observed vibrational band origins up to 4900 cm^-1 reported by Floud, J.-M., Barbe, A., Camy-Peyret, C., and Plateaux, J. J., 1996, J. molec. Spectrosc., 177, 34 are involved. The root mean square error of this fit for the 39 observed vibrational energy levels is 0.83 cm^-1. In order to test the refined potential, the rovibrational energy levels up to J = 15 are calculated and compared with the observed values.     

A quasiclassical study of collisions of He with HD(B 1Σ+ u )

A quasiclassical trajectory study has been carried out for collisions of ⁴He with electronically excited H₂(B ¹Σ⁺ _u ) and its isotopomer HD. By using analytical fits for the ab initio potential energy surfaces of the ground and the excited state we have obtained vibrational and electronic quenching cross sections for several initial conditions. We draw the following conclusions. Vibrational excitation strongly promotes electronic quenching whereas translational energy is less effective. Rotational excitation decreases the rate of quenching. In a remarkable contrast to the ground electronic state, vibrational energy transfer on the excited potential energy surface is an efficient and fast process. Collisions at high energies results in T → R energy transfer. The above conclusions are valid for both H₂ and HD.     

Rotational spectra and internal dynamics of Ne—H2S

Rotational spectra of 15 isotopomers of the Ne-H₂S van der Waals complex were measured in the frequency range 4–22 GHz using a pulsed molecular beam Fourier transform spectrometer. Two K = 0 progressions were observed for each of the symmetric isotopomers (with H₂S or D₂S). This doubling is attributed to an internal rotation motion of the H₂S subunit within the complex. These two states can be correlated with the 0₀₀ and 1₀₁ rotational states of free H₂S and D₂S. By contrast, symmetry constraints no longer apply to isotopomers with DHS. The excited internal rotor state is no longer metastable, and only one K = 0 progression could be observed. The rotational constants obtained were compared with those of Ar-H₂S and Ar—H₂O. The ground state rotational constant remained almost constant upon substitution of H with D, showing an unusual isotope effect, similarly to a previous observation in Ar-H₂S (GUTOWSKY, H. S., EMILSSON, T., and ARUNAN, E., 1997, J. chem. Phys., 106, 5309). This behaviour is in agreement with the ab initio study by OLIVEIRA, G. D., and DYKSTRA, C. E., 1999, J. chem. Phys., 110, 289. An approximate substitution analysis was carried out to deduce structural information from the ground state rotational constants. Nuclear quadrupole hyperfine structures were observed and resolved or partially resolved for isotopomers containing ³³S and D, respectively, and the corresponding nuclear quadrupole coupling constants were determined. These were used to derive information about the internal dynamics of the dimer. Different sensitivities of the quadrupole coupling constants of D and ³³S to the extent of out-of-plane motion were revealed.     

Assignment of a perturbation in the FT-ICLAS spectrum of 12C2H2 around 12 709.5 cm−1

The vibrational state perturbing the J = 17 and 18 rotational states of the zero-order v ₁ + 3v ₃ state of ¹²C₂H₂ is assigned to the state with vibrational energy predicted at G _ν = 12 685.1 cm^?1 using the cluster model (El Idrissi, M. I., Liévin, J., Campargue, A. and Herman, M., 1999, J. chem. Phys., 110, 2074). The assignment is discussed also in terms of the very special pressure shift behaviour demonstrated previously for absorption lines reaching these levels (Herregodts, F., Hepp, M., Hurtmans, D., Vander Auwera, J. and Herman, M., 1999, J. chem. Phys., 111, 7961). The experimental information arising from a set-up newly running at ULB, called FT-ICLAS brings decisive information in the assignment process. This set-up is described briefly.     

Constrained reaction coordinate dynamics for systems with constraints

In the context of molecular dynamics simulations of rare events, the application of constraints on a suitable reaction coordinate has often been found useful for sampling of the free energy barrier. The efficiency of these calculations is hampered by geometrical difficulties, related to the metric factor and inertial forces. Some years ago Mulders et al. [1996, J. chem. Phys., 104, 48691 suggested a way to simplify the approach. Their idea was demonstrated shortly afterwards by Sprik and Ciccotti [1998, J. chem. Phys., 109, 77371. The present paper extends these results to vector reaction coordinate and molecular systems modelled with holonomic constraints.     

Quasi-classical trajectory study of the stereodynamics of a Ne+H2+→NeH++H reaction

We have carried out a quasi-classical trajectory calculation for the reaction of Ne + H₂⁺ (v=0, j=1) → NeH⁺ + H on the ground state (1²A') using the LZHH potential energy surface constructed by Lü et al. [Lü S J, Zhang P Y, Han K L and He G Z 2010 J. Chem. Phys. 132 014303]. Differential cross sections at many collision energies indicate that the reaction is dominated by forward-scattering. In addition, the NeH⁺ product shows rotationally hot and vibrationally cold distributions. Stereodynamical results indicate that the products are strongly polarized in the direction perpendicular to the scattering plane and that the products rotate mainly in planes parallel to the scattering plane.     

Quantum Monte Carlo studies on small molecules

The Variational Monte Carlo (VMC) and Fixed-Node Diffusion Monte Carlo (FNDMC) methods have been examined, through studies on small molecules. New programs have been written which implement the (by now) standard algorithms for VMC and FNDMC. We have employed and investigated throughout our studies the accuracy of the common Slater–Jastrow trial wave function. Firstly, we have studied a range of sizes of the Jastrow correlation function of the Boys–Handy form, obtained using our optimization program with analytical derivatives of the central moments in the local energy. Secondly, we have studied the effects of Slater-type orbitals (STOs) that display the exact cusp behaviour at nuclei. The orbitals make up the all important trial determinant, which determines the fixed nodal surface. We report all-electron calculations for the ground state energies of Li₂, Be₂, H₂O, NH₃, CH₄ and H₂CO, in all cases but one with accuracy in excess of 95%. Finally, we report an investigation of the ground state energies, dissociation energies and ionization potentials of NH and NH⁺. Recent focus paid in the literature to these species allow for an extensive comparison with other ab initio methods. We obtain accurate properties for the species and reveal a favourable tendency for fixed-node and other systematic errors to cancel. As a result of our accurate predictions, we are able to obtain a value for the heat of formation of NH, which agrees to within less than 1 kcal mol^?1 to other ab initio techniques and 0.2 kcal mol^?1 of the experimental value.     

Lifetimes of rovibrational levels of the long-range I′ 1Πg state of H2 and D2: experiment and theory

The lifetimes of the lowest lying rovibrational levels of the outer well I′ ¹Π_g state of molecular hydrogen were measured for both H₂ and D₂. The measurements were made by direct observation of the time-dependent decay of the fluorescence. The observed lifetimes depend on isotopomer and increase with vibrational excitation. The predominant decay route for these levels is fluorescence. Previously published ab initio lifetimes calculated for these states, which accounted for non-adiabatic interactions [J. Chem. Phys. 92, 7461 (1990)], are in good agreement with experiment for H₂ but are too long by four or five orders of magnitude for D₂. We present new ab initio results at the adiabatic level for the fluorescence lifetimes. The current results are in reasonable agreement with the experimental lifetimes for both H₂ and D₂. We explain the isotopomer and vibrational dependence of the lifetimes and discuss the neglected interactions and decay pathways.     

Transport and relaxation properties of isotopomeric hydrogen–helium binary mixtures. I. H2–He mixtures

An extensive comparison has been carried out between calculated and measured bulk properties of H₂–helium mixtures. Detailed comparisons are presented for the interaction second virial coefficient, binary diffusion, mixture shear viscosity and thermal conductivity, rotational relaxation, thermal diffusion field-effects, collision broadening of the depolarized Rayleigh light scattering spectrum, and flow birefringence. Scattering calculations have been carried out for the ab initio potential energy surfaces obtained by Tao (1994, J. chem. Phys., 100, 4947) and Schaefer and Köhler (1985, Physica A, 129, 469). The values for the various bulk gas properties calculated from these two potential surfaces are generally found to lie within or near the experimental uncertainties.     

Effect of ro-vibrational excitation of NeH~+ on the stereodynamics for the reactions H+NeH~+(v=1-3,j=1,3,5) →H_2~++Ne

The stereodynamics of the abstraction reaction H + NeH+(v = 1-3,j = 1,3,5) → H2+ + Ne is studied theoretically with a quasi-classical trajectory method on a new ab initio potential energy surface [ S J,Zhang P Y,Han K L and He G Z 2012 J.Chem.Phys.132 014303].The effects of vibrational and rotational excitation of reagent molecules on the polarization of the product are investigated.The reaction cross sections,the distributions of P(θr),P(φr),and polarizationdependent differential cross sections(PDDCSs) are calculated.The obtained cross sections indicate that the title reaction is a typical barrierless atom(ion)-ion(molecule) reaction.The initial vibrational excitation and rotational excitation of reagent molecules have distinctly different influences on stereodynamics of the title reaction,and the possible reasons for the differences are presented.     

Measurement of angular dependence of M X-ray production cross-sections in Re,Bi and U at 5.96 keV

The M X-ray production differential cross sections in Re, Bi and U elements have been measured at the 5.96 keV incident photon energy in an angular range 135°–155°. The measurements were performed using a ⁵⁵Fe source and a Si(Li) detector. The present results contradict the predictions of Cooper and Zare [Atomic Collision Processes, Gordon and Breach, New York (1969)] and experimental results of Kumar et al. [J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. 34, 613 (2001)]. that, after photoionization of inner shells, the vacancy state has equal population of magnetic substates and the subsequent X-ray emission is isotropic, but confirm the predictions of the calculations of Flügge et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 29, 7 (1972)] and experimental results of Sharma and Allawadhi [J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. 32, 2343 (1999)] and Ertugrul [Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B 119, 345 (1996)]. Total M X-ray production cross sections from the decay at the 5.96 keV photon energies are found to be in good agreement with the calculated theoretical results using the theoretical values of M shell photoionization cross section.     

Elastic scattering of low-energy electrons by NO

We report elastic integral, momentum transfer and differential cross sections for electron scattering by N₂O for energies up to 50 eV. These results were obtained at the static-exchange approximation with the Schwinger Multichannel Method with Pseudopotentials [M.H.F. Bettega, L.G. Ferreira and M.A.P. Lima, Phys. Rev. A 47, 1111 (1993)]. In general our results show good agreement with experimental data and with other theoretical results but some discrepancies are found. We have also found a shape resonance around 4 eV in agreement with previous calculations using the R-matrix Method of Sarpal et al. [J. Phys. B 29, 857 (1996)]. On the other hand, the existence of a resonance at about 13 eV, clearly seen by the Schwinger Variational Iterative Method [Michelin et al., J. Phys. B 29, 2115 (1996)], can not be confirmed by our calculations. At this energy, our cross sections show a broad bump with no clear resonant behavior given by the eigenphase sum. Received: 13 November 1997 / Revised: 13 March 1998 / Accepted: 9 April 1998     

Effective atomic numbers of some H-, C-, N- and O-based composite materials derived from differential incoherent scattering cross-sections

In this work, we have made an effort to determine whether the effective atomic numbers of H-, C-, N- and O-based composite materials would indeed remain a constant over the energy grid of 280–1200 keV wherein incoherent scattering dominates their interaction with photons. For this purpose, the differential incoherent scattering cross-sections of Be, C, Mg, Al, Ca and Ti were measured for three scattering angles 60°, 80° and 100° at 279.1, 661.6 and 1115.5 keV using which an expression for the effective atomic number was derived. The differential incoherent scattering cross-sections of the composite materials of interest measured at these three angles in the same set-up and substituted in this expression would yield their effective atomic number at the three energies. Results obtained in this manner for bakelite, nylon, epoxy, teflon, perspex and some sugars, fatty acids as well as amino acids agreed to within 2% of some of the other available values. It was also observed that for each of these samples, Z _eff was almost a constant at the three energies which unambiguously justified the conclusions drawn by other authors earlier [Manjunathaguru and Umesh, J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 39, 3969 (2006); Manohara et al,Nucl. Instrum. Methods B266, 3906 (2008); Manohara et al Phys. Med. Biol. 53, M377 (2008)] based on total interaction cross-sections in the energy grid of interest.     

A new force field for the adsorption of H2, O2, N2, CO,H2O,and H2S gases on alkali doped carbon nanotubes

The main goal of this work is the generation of a new force field data set to the interaction of several gases such as H₂, O₂, N₂, CO, H₂O, and H₂S with alkali cation-doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) using ab initio calculations at the MP2(full)/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory. Different alkali cations including Li⁺, Na⁺_, K⁺ and Cs⁺ were used to dope in the CNT. The calculated potential energy curve for the interaction of each gas molecule with each alkali cation-doped CNTs was fitted to an analytical potential function to obtain the parameters of the potential function. A modified Morse potential function was selected for the fitting in which the electrostatic interactions has been accounted by adding the β/r term to the Morse potential. The accuracy of the calculated force field was checked via Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulation of the H₂ adsorption on Li-doped graphite and Li-doped CNT. The results of these simulations were compared with the experimental measurements and the closeness of the simulation results with the experimental data indicated the accuracy of the proposed force field. The main merit of this work is the derivation of a specific force field for interaction of each of six gases with four alkali cation-doped CNT, which can be used in molecular simulation of these 24 of systems. The simulation results showed the increase of the H₂ adsorption capacity of nanotube and graphite up to 50% and 10%, respectively, due to the insertion of Li ions.     

Rovibrational states of H+ 3. Part 1: The energy region below 9000 cm−1 and modelling of the non-adiabatic effects

This group's variational method for computing rovibrational energies using hyperspherical coordinates and harmonics has been applied to all H⁺ ₃ states below 13000 cm^?1 (J ≤ 10) for which accurate energies based on a submicrohartre accuracy potential energy surface have been obtained. A comparison with a recent comprehensive compilation of experimental data below 9000 cm^?1 shows deviations of up to 1.2 cm^?1. First it is shown that these deviations exert a systematic influence on the vibrational band but depend to a much lesser extent on rotational excitation. Then the remaining discrepancies can be attributed to the neglect of non-adiabatic effects, for which a useful correction formula based on ab initio results is obtained. The scatter in individual bands can thus be reduced to ~0.1 cm^?1 such that these corrected results are consistent with the accuracy of the potential energy surface itself.     

The equilibrium geometry of the SC3H radical: an ab initio study

The SC₃H radical is known by experiment to have a linear equilibrium structure, but even rather high-level ab initio computations give a bent equilibrium geometry. A theoretical study of the SCCCH radical has been carried out in order to analyse the influence of several factors in the computed equilibrium structure. Quadratic configuration interaction QCISD(T) and restricted coupled cluster RCCSD(T) computations have been performed in combination with large basis sets. Spin-orbit effects have been taken into account through the Breit-Pauli Hamiltonian using multi-configuration SCF and configuration interaction wavefunctions. Our final results indicate that the equilibrium structure must be linear, in agreement with the experimental studies [McCarthy, M. C., Vrtilek, J. M., Gottlieb, C. A., Wang, W., and Thaddeus, P., 1994, Astrophys. J., 431, L127; Hirahara, Y., Ohshima, Y, and Endo, Y, 1994, J. chem. Phys., 101, 7342]. Both spin-orbit and electron correlation effects appear to be of comparable importance, but an adequate computation of the correlation energy has been much more difficult and has ultimately required basis set extrapolations.