The topology of energy hypersurfaces II. Reaction topology in euclidean spaces

By introducing equivalence classes of critical points of potential energy hypersurfaces a unique topological space, Reaction Topology (^3N E, T _C ) is defined over an Euclidean nuclear configuration space ^3N E for a system of N nuclei and k electrons. Relations between the topological concepts of molecular structure and reaction mechanism are analyzed. Topological equivalences between Euclidean and Riemannian representations of nuclear configuration spaces are exploited for the analysis of quantum mechanical reaction networks of all possible chemical reactions over the given potential energy hypersurface.