A simple classical prediction of quantal resonances in collinear reactive scattering

Quantal collinear reactive scattering computations have shown that in the vicinity of thresholds of reactant or product vibrational states, one finds resonances in the state to state reaction probability. We find that these resonances can be explained classically in terms of energy transfer between adiabatic reactant and product channels. This transfer is attributable to resonant periodic orbits, resonating between reactants and products. The classical condition for a quantal resonance is that the action of the orbit over one period be an integer (in units of h) and that the energy at which this occurs be lower than the adiabatic barrier heights of the resonating states. These conditions suffice for a prediction of the location of the quantal resonance within a 1% accuracy!