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The conventional Nosé-Hoover type deterministic thermostat scheme for controlling temperature by configurational variables (Braga-Travis (BT) thermostat) is non-ergodic for systems with a few degrees of freedom. While for the original Nosé-Hoover kinetic thermostat ergodicity has been achieved by controlling the higher order moments of kinetic energy, the issues of nonergodicity of BT thermostat persists. In this paper, we introduce two new measures of configurational temperature (second and third order) based on the generalized temperature-curvature relationship and obtain a family of deterministic thermostatting schemes by selectively (and simultaneously) controlling the different orders of temperatures through pseudo-friction terms. The ergodic characteristics of the proposed thermostats are tested using a single harmonic oscillator through statistical (normality of joint distributions at different Poincare sections) as well as dynamical tests (difference of the minimum and maximum largest Lyapunov exponent). Our results indicate that simultaneously controlling the first and the second order configurational temperatures (C1,2 thermostat) is sufficient to make the dynamics ergodic. A 2000 particle Lennard-Jones system is subjected to (i) equilibrium and (ii) sudden temperature change under BT and C1,2 thermostatting schemes. The C1,2 thermostat is found to be more robust than the BT thermostat without increasing computational costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expressions for reaction rate constants in multidimensional chemical systems are derived by applying semiclassical approximation to the quantum path integrals of the ImF formulation of reaction rate theory. First, the transverse degrees of freedom orthogonal to the reaction coordinate are treated within the steepest descent approximation, after which the semiclassical approximation is applied to the remaining reaction coordinate. Thus derived, the semiclassical expressions account for the multidimensional nature of quantum effects and accurately incorporate nuclear quantum effects such as multidimensional tunneling and zero point energies. The obtained expressions are applicable in the broad temperature range from the deep tunneling to high-temperature regimes. The present paper provides derivation of the semiclassical instanton expressions proposed by Kryvohuz [J. Chem. Phys. 134, 114103 (2011)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In our previous work [Rivera-Rivera et al., J. Chem. Phys. 142, 014303 (2015)], classical molecular dynamics simulations followed the relaxation, in a 300 K Ar bath at a pressure of 10–400 atm, of nitromethane (CH3NO2) instantaneously excited by statistically distributing 50 kcal/mol among all its internal degrees of freedom. Both rotational and vibrational energies decayed with nonexponential curves. The present work explores mode-specific mechanisms at work in the decay process. With the separation of rotation and vibration developed by Rhee and Kim [J. Chem. Phys. 107, 1394 (1997)], one can show that the vibrational kinetic energy decomposes only into vibrational normal modes, while the rotational and Coriolis energies decompose into both vibrational and rotational normal modes. The saved CH3NO2 positions and momenta were converted into mode-specific energies whose decay was monitored over 1000 ps. The results identify vibrational and rotational modes that promote/resist energy lost and drive nonexponential behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxidation reaction of a gas-phase aluminum atom by a molecular oxygen was studied by a crossedbeam condition at 12.4 kJ/mol of collision energy. A (1+1) resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) via the D²Σ+-X²Σ+ transition of AlO was applied to ionize the product. The REMPI spectrum was analyzed to determine rotational state distributions for v = 0-2 of AlO. For several vib-rotational states of AlO, state selected angular and kinetic energy distributions were determined by a time-sliced ion imaging technique for the first time. Kinetic energy distributions were well represented by that taken into account initial energy spreads of collision energy and the population of the spin-orbit levels of the counter product O(³PJ) determined previously. All angular distributions showed forward and backward peaks, and the forward peaks were more pronounced than the backward one for the states of low internal energy. The backward peak intensity became comparable to the forward one for the states of high internal energy. These results and the rotational state distributions suggested that the reaction proceeds via an intermediate which has a lifetime comparable to or shorter than its rotational period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]