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The adiabatic global potential energy surface of the H[sub 3][sup +] system for the lowest triplet excited state of A[sup ′] symmetry was computed for an extensive grid of conformations around the minimum region at full configuration interaction ab initio level, using a much more extended basis set than in a previous paper from the same authors. An accurate global fit (rms error lower than 27 cm[sup -1] for energies lower than dissociation into separated atoms and lower than 5 cm[sup -1] for energies lower than the dissociation channel) to these ab initio points and also to part of the previous calculated points (for a total of 7689 energies in the data set) of the lowest triplet excited state of A[sup ′] symmetry is obtained using a diatomics-in-molecules approach corrected by one symmetrized three-body term with a total of 109 linear parameters and 1 nonlinear parameter. This produces an accurate global potential which represents all aspects of the bound triplet excited state of H[sub 3][sup +] including the minima and dissociation limits, satisfying the correct symmetry properties of the system. The vibrational eigenstates have been calculated using hyperspherical coordinates with symmetry adapted basis functions with the proper regular behavior at the Eckart singularities. The accuracy of the vibrational levels thus obtained is expected to be better than 2 cm[sup -1] with respect to unknown experimental values. Due to the presence of three equivalent minima at collinear geometries (D[sub ∞h]) the lower vibrational levels are close to triple degenerate. Since the interconversion barrier between the three minima is about 2640 cm[sup -1], these states split for the upper excited vibrational levels. Such splitting can provide a key feature to identifying the unassigned transitions amongst the many H[sub 3][sup +] lines that have been observed in hydrogen plasmas. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have calculated new potential-energy surfaces for the lowest two spin-aligned 4A′ states of the Li3 trimer. This calculation shows a seam of conical intersections between these states resulting from the extra symmetry of the system when the atoms are in a collinear arrangement. This seam is especially important because of its proximity to the three-body dissociation limit of the system; ultracold scattering calculations and the bound-state energies of the system will be affected by the presence of this conical intersection. In this paper we discuss the calculation of the potential-energy surface and the location of the conical intersection seam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All the pure rotational transitions reported in the previous studies [J. Chem. Phys. 113, 10121 (2000); J. Mol. Spectrosc. 222, 22 (2003)] and newly observed rotation-vibration transitions, P=1/2←3/2, for Ar–SH and Ar–SD [J. Chem. Phys. (2005), the preceding paper] have been simultaneously analyzed to determine a new intermolecular potential-energy surface of Ar–SH in the ground state. A Schrödinger equation considering the three-dimensional freedom of motion for an atom-diatom complex in the Jacobi coordinate, R, θ, and r, was numerically solved to obtain energies of the rovibrational levels using the discrete variable representation method. A three-dimensional potential-energy surface is determined by a least-squares fitting with initial values of the parameters for the potential obtained by ab initio calculations at the RCCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVTZ level of theory. The potential well reproduces all the observed data in the microwave and millimeter wave regions with parity doublings and hyperfine splittings. Several low-lying rovibrational energies are calculated using the new potential-energy surface. The dependence of the interaction energy between Ar and SH(2Πi) on the bond length of the SH monomer is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fundamental issues associated with the application of the nuclear-electronic orbital (NEO) approach to hydrogen transfer systems are addressed. In the NEO approach, specified nuclei are treated quantum mechanically on the same level as the electrons, and mixed nuclear-electronic wavefunctions are calculated with molecular orbital methods. The positions of the nuclear basis function centers are optimized variationally. In the application of the NEO approach to hydrogen transfer systems, the hydrogen nuclei and all electrons are treated quantum mechanically. Within the NEO framework, the transferring hydrogen atom can be represented by two basis function centers to allow delocalization of the proton vibrational wavefunction. In this paper, the NEO approach is applied to the [He-H-He]+ and [He-H-He]++ model systems. Analyses of technical issues pertaining to flexibility of the basis set to describe both single and double well proton potential energy surfaces, linear dependency of the hydrogen basis functions, multiple minima in the basis function center optimization, convergence of the number of hydrogen basis function centers, and basis set superposition error are presented. The accuracy of the NEO approach is tested by comparison to grid calculations for these model systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we report a combined experimental and theoretical study on the dynamics of the insertion reaction C(1D)+D2 at 15.5 kJ mol-1 collision energy. Product angular and velocity distributions have been obtained in crossed beam experiments and quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) and rigorous statistical calculations have been performed on the recent and accurate ab initio potential energy surface of Bussery-Honvault, Honvault, and Launay at the energy of the experiment. The molecular-beam results have been simulated using the theoretical calculations. Good agreement between experiment and both QCT and statistical predictions is found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a theoretical study of the low-energy dynamics of radiative association processes in the He++H2 collision system. Formation of the triatomic HeH2+ ion in its bound rotation-vibration states on the potential-energy surfaces of the ground and of the first excited electronic states is investigated. Close-coupling calculations are performed to determine detailed state-to-state characteristics (bound←free transition rates, radiative and dissociative widths of resonances) as well as temperature-average characteristics (rate constants, photon emission spectra) of the two-state (X←A) reaction He+(2S)+H2(X1Σg+)→HeH2+(X2A′)+hν and of the single-state (A←A) reaction He+(2S)+H2(X1Σg+)→HeH2+(A2A′)+hν. The potential-energy surfaces of the X- and A-electronic states of HeH2+ and the dipole moment surfaces determined ab initio in an earlier work [Kraemer, Sˇpirko, and Bludsky, Chem. Phys. 276, 225 (2002)] are used in the calculations. The rate constants k(T) as functions of temperature are calculated for the temperature interval 1≤T≤100 K. The maximum k(T) values are predicted as 3.3×10-15 s-1 cm3 for the X←A reaction and 2.3×10-20 s-1 cm3 for the A←A reaction at temperatures around 2 K. Rotationally predissociating states of the He+-H2 complex, correlating with the υ=0, j=2 state of free H2, are found to play a crucial role in the dynamics of the association reactions at low temperatures; their contribution to the k(T) function of the X←A reaction at T<30 K is estimated as larger than 80%. The calculated partial rate constants and emission spectra show that in the X←A reaction the HeH2+(X) ion is formed in its highly excited vibrational states. This is in contrast with the vibrational state population of the ion when formed via the (X←X) reaction He(1S)+H2+(X2Σg+)→HeH2+(X2A′)+hν. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrared spectra of weakly bound hydrogen–krypton complexes have been studied at high spectral resolution (0.04 cm-1) using a long-path (154 m) low temperature (100 K) absorption cell and a Fourier transform spectrometer. In addition to spectra from the regions of the H2 and D2 fundamental vibrational bands in the midinfrared, the results also include the region of the pure rotational S0(0) transition of H2 in the far infrared. A total of 219 measured line positions from these spectra have been fully assigned to specific quantum transitions and form the basis for determining a greatly improved semiempirical three-dimensional intermolecular potential energy surface for hydrogen–krypton in an accompanying paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for incorporating strong electric field polarization effects into optimal control calculations is presented. A Born–Oppenheimer-type separation, referred to as the electric-nuclear Born–Oppenheimer (ENBO) approximation, is introduced in which variations of both the nuclear geometry and the external electric field are assumed to be slow compared with the speed at which the electronic degrees of freedom respond to these changes. This assumption permits the generation of a potential energy surface that depends not only on the relative geometry of the nuclei but also on the electric field strength and on the orientation of the molecule with respect to the electric field. The range of validity of the ENBO approximation is discussed in the paper. A two-stage toolkit implementation is presented to incorporate the polarization effects and reduce the cost of the optimal control dynamics calculations. As an illustration of the method, it is applied to optimal control of vibrational excitation in a hydrogen molecule aligned along the field direction. Ab initio configuration interaction calculations with a large orbital basis set are used to compute the H–H interaction potential in the presence of the electric field. The significant computational cost reduction afforded by the toolkit implementation is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently developed completely renormalized (CR) coupled-cluster (CC) methods with singles, doubles, and noniterative triples or triples and quadruples [CR-CCSD(T) or CR-CCSD(TQ), respectively], which are based on the method of moments of CC equations (MMCC) [K. Kowalski and P. Piecuch, J. Chem. Phys. 113, 18 (2000)], eliminate the failures of the standard CCSD(T) and CCSD(TQ) methods at larger internuclear separations, but they are not rigorously size extensive. Although the departure from strict size extensivity of the CR-CCSD(T) and CR-CCSD(TQ) methods is small, it is important to examine the possibility of formulating the improved CR-CC methods, which are as effective in breaking chemical bonds as the existing CR-CCSD(T) and CR-CCSD(TQ) approaches, which are as easy to use as the CR-CCSD(T) and CR-CCSD(TQ) methods, and which can be made rigorously size extensive. This may be particularly useful for the applications of CR-CC methods and other MMCC approaches in calculations of potential energy surfaces of large many-electron systems and van der Waals molecules, where the additive separability of energies in the noninteracting limit is very important. In this paper, we propose different types of CR-CC approximations, termed the locally renormalized (LR) CCSD(T) and CCSD(TQ) methods, which become rigorously size extensive if the orbitals are localized on nointeracting fragments. The LR-CCSD(T) and LR-CCSD(TQ) methods rely on the form of the energy expression in terms of the generalized moments of CC equations, derived in this work, termed the numerator-denominator-connected MMCC expansion. The size extensivity and excellent performance of the LR-CCSD(T) and LR-CCSD(TQ) methods are illustrated numerically by showing the results for the dimers of stretched HF and LiH molecules and bond breaking in HF and H2O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The kinetic data from the coarse representation of polypeptide torsional dynamics described in the preceding paper [Fernandez and Berry, J. Chem. Phys. 112, 5212 (2000), preceding paper] is inverted by using detailed balance to obtain a topographic description of the potential-energy surface (PES) along the dominant folding pathway of the bovine pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI). The topography is represented as a sequence of minima and effective saddle points. The dominant folding pathway displays an overall monotonic decrease in energy with a large number of staircaselike steps, a clear signature of a good structure-seeker. The diversity and availability of alternative folding pathways is analyzed in terms of the Shannon entropy σ(t) associated with the time-dependent probability distribution over the kinetic ensemble of contact patterns. Several stages in the folding process are evident. Initially misfolded states form and dismantle revealing no definite pattern in the topography and exhibiting high Shannon entropy. Passage down a sequence of staircase steps then leads to the formation of a nativelike intermediate, for which σ(t) is much lower and fairly constant. Finally, the structure of the intermediate is refined to produce the native state of BPTI. We also examine how different levels of tolerance to mismatches of side chain contacts influence the folding kinetics, the topography of the dominant folding pathway, and the Shannon entropy. This analysis yields upper and lower bounds of the frustration tolerance required for the expeditious and robust folding of BPTI. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A potential energy surface is retrieved for the Ar-CO complex by carrying out a global analysis of its high-resolution spectroscopic data. The data set consists of already published microwave and infrared data and of new microwave transitions which are presented in the paper. The theoretical approach used to reproduce the spectrum is based on a model Hamiltonian which accounts simultaneously for the two large amplitude van der Waals modes and for the overall rotation of the complex. Only the vCO=0 state is considered. The root-mean-square deviation of the analysis is 18 MHz for the microwave data and 1.4×10-3 cm-1 for the infrared energy difference data. Fifteen parameters corresponding to the potential energy function are determined in addition to two kinetic energy parameters and two distortion-type parameters. The potential energy surface derived is in good agreement with the one obtained by Shin, Shin, and Tao [J. Chem. Phys. 104, 183 (1996)]. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two recent papers presented calculations of the highly excited vibrational states of ozone [J. Chem. Phys. 119, 6512 (2003); 119, 6554 (2003)]. The nature and energies of these states may hold the key to the anomalous isotopic distribution of ozone in the atmosphere. Even though the same potential energy surface of Babikov et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 119, 2577 (2003)] was used in both calculations, the number of bound van der Waals states reported below dissociation differed significantly. In order to resolve the issue we present here the results of an independent computation of all the bound vibrational states of [sup 16]O[sup 16]O[sup 16]O and [sup 16]O[sup 16]O[sup 18]O up to dissociation. Our methods differ from both earlier calculations since we use hyperspherical coordinates and a direct product discrete variable representation of the Hamiltonian. The results of present work support the existence of several van der Waals states for J=0 on this potential energy surface. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional multireference (MR) coupled-cluster (CC) methods based on the effective Hamiltonian are often beset by the problem of intruder states, and are not suitable for studying potential energy surface (PES) involving real or avoided curve crossing. State-specific MR-based approaches obviate this limitation. The state-specific MRCC (SS-MRCC) method developed some years ago [Mahapatra et al., J. Chem. Phys. 110, 6171 (1999)] can handle quasidegeneracy of varying degrees over a wide range of PES, including regions of real or avoided curve-crossing. Motivated by its success, we have suggested and explored in this paper a suite of physically motivated coupled electron-pair approximations (SS-MRCEPA) like methods, which are designed to capture the essential strength of the parent SS-MRCC method without significant sacrificing its accuracy. These SS-MRCEPA theories, like their CC counterparts, are based on complete active space, treat all the reference functions on the same footing and provide a description of potentially uniform precision of PES of states with varying MR character. The combining coefficients of the reference functions are self-consistently determined along with the cluster amplitudes themselves. The newly developed SS-MRCEPA methods are size-extensive, and are also size-consistent with localized orbitals. Among the various versions, there are two which are invariant with respect to the restricted rotations among doubly occupied and active orbitals separately. Similarity of performance of this latter and the noninvariant versions at the crossing points of the degenerate orbitals imply that the all the methods presented are rather robust with respect to the rotations among degenerate orbitals. Illustrative numerical applications are presented for PES of the ground state of a number of difficult test cases such as the model H4, H[sub 8] problems, the insertion of Be into H[sub 2], and Li[sub 2], where intruders exist and for a state of a molecule such as CH[sub 2], with pronounced MR character. Results obtained with SS-MRCEPA methods are found to be comparable in accuracy to the parent SS-MRCC and FCI/large scale CI results throughout the PES, which indicates the efficacy of our SS-MRCEPA methods over a wide range of geometries, despite their neglect of a host of complicated nonlinear terms, even when the traditional MR-based methods based on effective Hamiltonians fail due to intruders. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we employ the time-dependent quantum wave packet method to study the reaction of F([sup 2]P[sub 3/2], [sup 2]P[sub 1/2]) with HD on the Alexander–Stark–Werner potential energy surface. The reaction probabilities and total integral cross sections of the spin–orbit ground and excited states for the two possible products of the system are calculated. Because the reaction channel of the excited spin–orbit state is closed at the resonance energy, the resonance feature does not appear in the reaction probabilities and cross section for the F([sup 2]P[sub 1/2])+HD(v=j=0)→HF+D reaction, in contrast with that found for the ground spin–orbit state. We also compare the average cross sections of the two possible products with the experimental measurement. The resonance peak in the present average cross section for the HF+D product is slightly larger than the experimental result, but much smaller than that of the single-state calculations on the potential energy surface of Stark and Werner. It seems that the spin–orbit coupling would play a relatively important role in this reaction. Moreover, the isotope effects of the ground and excited spin–orbit states and the reactivity of the two product channels from the excited spin–orbit state are presented. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper effects of higher order Jahn-Teller coupling terms on the nonadiabatic dynamics are studied. Of particular interest is the case when the potential energy surfaces of the degenerate state show pronounced anharmonicity. In order to demonstrate the effects a two-dimensional Exe Jahn-Teller model system is treated which is based on the e[sup ′] stretching vibration of the photoactive [sup 2]E[sup ′] state of NO[sub 3] as a realistic example. The sixth order Exe Jahn-Teller Hamiltonian is derived in the diabatic representation which is valid for any system with a C[sub 3] rotation axis. This diabatization scheme is compared to lower-order Jahn-Teller Hamiltonians and to symmetry adapted as well as ad hoc approximations. Lower-order potentials result in pronounced quantitative and qualitative differences in the dynamics, including differences in the evolution of mean values, the autocorrelation functions (and thus the corresponding spectra), and the electronic population evolution. In the particular example treated, the results of fourth and fifth order potentials are very similar to the sixth order reference system. In contrast, the approximate sixth order Hamiltonians, though the corresponding adiabatic surfaces seem to be nearly identical, results in pronounced differences. The possible consequences for the dynamics of realistic systems with higher dimensionality are briefly discussed. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares harmonic and anharmonic zero-point energies and thermodynamic functions for a number of molecules of small and medium size. Anharmonic corrections cannot be neglected for quantitative studies, but can be obtained quite effectively by a perturbative treatment including cubic force constants to the second order and semidiagonal quartic constants to the first order. Simple finite difference equations provide all the necessary terms by at most 6N-11 Hessian evaluations, where N is the number of atoms in the system. Accurate values are obtained by this method using the Becke three parameter Lee–Yang–Parr functional, medium size basis sets, and, when needed, proper treatment of internal rotations. The whole model has been completely automated in the Gaussian package. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the resonances in H+HLi scattering. The signature of these resonances is obtained from the oscillations in its reaction probability versus energy curves. They are identified here from a set of pseudospectra calculated for different initial locations of a stationary Gaussian wave packet on the ab initio potential energy surface (PES) reported by Dunne, Murrel, and Jemmer [Chem. Phys. Lett. 336, 1 (2001)]. The nuclear motion on this PES is monitored with the aid of a time-dependent wave packet method and the pseudospectrum are calculated by Fourier transforming the time autocorrelation function of the initial wave packet. The resonances are further examined and assigned by computing their eigenfunctions through spectral quantization algorithm. Both the linewidth as well as decay lifetimes of the resonances are reported. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to rationalize the fluorescence activity, experimentally observed for 21 molecules of the same family as the 4-(N,N-dimethyl)anilines, based on their potential energy surfaces calculated within the twisting intramolecular charge transfer model. A classification in four groups is proposed according to the sign of two parameters, ΔE[sup gap], characterizing the energy difference between the vertical locally and charge transfer excited states, and ΔE[sup 1S] (or ΔE[sup 1S] for pretwisted systems), representing the energy gain of the charge transfer excited state with a perpendicular conformation compared to the first vertical excited state. In this study, the time-dependent density-functional theory has been used to calculate the potential energy surfaces of the ground and excited states along the twisting angle. Computed excitation energies and optimized ground state geometries have been obtained with both B3LYP and MPW1PW91 functionals using a 6-311+G(2d,p), and a 6-31G(d) basis set, respectively. From this study, it follows that ΔE[sup gap] and ΔE[sup 1S] are the main parameters necessary to understand the fluorescence activity of these molecules. The fact that the same fluorescence activity is observed for the members of each group (or subcategory for the particular case of group II), reveals the underlying twisting mechanism as a common process for all the investigated molecules, which explains their experimental dual and nondual emission. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present a time-dependent quantum wave packet calculation for the reaction of F([sup 2]P[sub 3/2],[sup 2]P[sub 1/2])+H[sub 2] on the Alexander–Stark–Werner potential energy surface. The reaction probabilities and the integral cross sections for the reaction of F([sup 2]P[sub 3/2],[sup 2]P[sub 1/2])+H[sub 2] (v=j=0) are computed using time-dependent quantum methods with the centrifugal sudden approximate. The results are compared with recent time-independent quantum calculations. The two-surface reaction probability for the initial ground spin–orbit state of J=0.5 is similar to the time-independent result obtained by Alexander et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 113, 11084 (2000)]. Our calculation also shows that electronic coupling has a relatively minor effect on the reactivity from the [sup 2]P[sub 3/2] state but a non-negligible one from the [sup 2]P[sub 1/2] state. By comparison with exact time-independent calculations, it is found that the Coriolis coupling plays a relatively minor role. In addition, most of the reactivity of the excited state of fluorine atom results from the spin–orbit coupling. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photodissociation dynamics of dicyclopropyl ketone are investigated using time-resolved Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and photofragment ion imaging spectroscopy. The photodissociation products are C[sub 3]H[sub 5]+CO+C[sub 3]H[sub 5], and the isomerization dynamics of C[sub 3]H[sub 5] are the focus of this paper. Electronic structure calculations are used to define the potential energy surface, while a two-step phase space theory model predicts excitation in the CO product. The vibrational energy distribution of the CO product is not described by this statistical distribution, and is more excited than that observed in the analogous dissociation of acetone. The translational energy distribution of CO indicates an exit barrier on the potential energy surface. Contrary to expectations based on the photodissociation of other aliphatic ketones, the hydrocarbon products are not cyclopropyl radicals. Instead, the excited dicyclopropyl ketone undergoes a ring-opening isomerization to form diallyl ketone, followed by dissociation producing allyl radicals and carbon monoxide. Some of the allyl radicals have sufficient internal energy to decompose to allene+H. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A generic high dimensional model representation (HDMR) method is presented for approximating multivariate functions in terms of functions of fewer variables and for going beyond the tensor-product formulation. Within the framework of reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) interpolation techniques, an HDMR is formulated for constructing global potential energy surfaces. The HDMR tools in conjunction with a successive multilevel decomposition technique provide efficient and accurate procedures for reducing a multidimensional interpolation problem to smaller, independent subproblems. It is shown that, when compared to the conventional tensor-product approach, the RKHS–HDMR methods can accurately produce smooth potential energy surfaces over dynamically relevant, nonrectangular regions using far fewer ab initio data points. Numerical results are given for a reduced two-level RKHS–HDMR of the C([sup 1]D)+H[sub 2] reactive system. The proposed RKHS–HDMR is intimately related to Gordon’s blending-function methods for multivariate interpolation and approximation. The general findings in the paper and the successful illustration provide a foundation for further applications of the techniques. © 2003 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ground-state stationary points on the potential energy surface of the reaction CF[SUP2+,SUB+] + H[SUB2]O → OCF[SUP+] + HF + H[SUP+] were calculated using the density-functional theory hybrid method B3LYP and the ab initio coupled cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples [CCSD(T)] algorithm. The calculations reveal a reaction mechanism involving two transition states. The first transition state involves the migration of one hydrogen within the primary collision complex and the second corresponds to the loss of a proton. The neutral HF molecular product is formed in its stable ground [SUP1]Σ state. Comparison of activation energies for the reactions of CF[SUP2+,SUB2] with H[SUB2]O and with D[SUB2]O, calculated from Becke three parameter Lee-Yang-Parr (B3LYP) zero-point energies, slightly favor the H[SUB2]O pathway by 0.04 and 0.07 eV for the first and second activations, respectively. Rate constant calculations using Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus/quasiequilibrium theory also kinetically favor the H[SUB2]O pathway in comparison with the D[SUB2]O pathway. However, the magnitudes of the calculated rate constants are so large (10[SUP12] -10[SUP14] s[SUP-1]) that the differences between the rates of reaction of CF[SUP2+,SUB+] with H[SUB2]O and with D[SUB2]O should not be distinguished by a crossed-beam time-of-flight mass spectrometer experiment. Indeed, the ion yields reported in this paper from new collision experiments between CF[SUP2+,SUB+] and D[SUB2]O showed no isotope effect when compared with previous data from collisions of CF[SUP2+,SUB+] with H[SUB2]O. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of chemical systems exhibit multiple reaction pathways that adjoin to a common reactant state. In fact, any reaction producing side products or proceeding via a stable intermediate involves a species possessing at least two reaction pathways. Despite improvements in ab initio transition-state search algorithms it remains difficult to detect multiple reaction pathways. Typically, multiple reaction pathways can only be detected by intuitively varying the initial point in the transition-state search trajectory. This reliance on intuition limits the ability to discover new and unexpected chemistry using ab initio methods. This paper proposes a systematic and intuition-free method for biasing a transition-state search to identify multiple reaction pathways originating from a common reactant state. The method allows the successive location of transition states, with each successful search contributing to a cumulative bias potential for the following search. The method is applicable to all psuedo-Newton-Raphson-type transition-state searches. The procedure was tested for a model potential energy surface and for the thermal rearrangement of trans-1,4-dimethylcyclobutene. In the latter case, four reaction pathways were discovered: two exothermic conrotatory ring openings leading to hexadienes, an endothermic methyl migration pathway leading to a carbene, and an exothermic rearrangement leading to 3-methyl-1,4-pentadiene. In accordance with experiment, the calculations predict that the conrotatory pathway leading to trans,trans-2,4-hexadiene is the kinetically dominant pathway. The methodology was also used to compute selectivities for competitive pathways producing trans and cis triflouropentadiene products in the thermal rearrangement of 3-triflouromethyl-cyclobutene. Again, results were in accord with experimental observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present cross sections for rotational, vibrational, and fine-structure transitions in He-CaH(²Σ) collisions at cold and ultracold temperatures calculated using the ab initio potential energy surface reported in the preceding paper. Rotational quenching is fast, vibrational quenching is slow. The spin-rotational interaction, although small and having no influence at temperatures above 10 K, changes significantly the rate coefficients for rotational quenching at lower temperatures. The theoretical rotational, vibrational, and elastic cross sections are compared with the results of a buffer gas cooling experiment carried out at a temperature of about 0.4 K. The theoretical predictions for the vibrational and elastic cross sections are larger than the measured values. The sensitivity to the potential energy surface is explored. A modified surface diminishes but does not remove the differences between theory and experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We calculated the intermolecular potential for the complex methane-Ar in which the methane is deformed along the ν[sub 1] and the ν[sub 3] vibrational normal modes. We present a fit of the potential energy surface as a function of the three argon coordinates and the four normal mode coordinates q[sub ν][sub 3x], q[sub ν][sub 3y], q[sub ν][sub 3z], and q[sub ν][sub 1]. This potential is used in the following paper [J. Chem. Phys. 117, 7562 (2002)] dealing with the calculation of the lifetimes of the quasibound states of the dimer with the methane monomer in the vibrationally excited ν[sub 3] state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents fully converged integral cross sections for the D[sub 2](j[sub 1]=0,2,4)+OH(j[sub 2]=0,2,4)→HOD+D reaction on the YZCL2 potential energy surface. It is found that the influence of reagent rotation excitation on reactivity is relatively mild compared with that of the D[sub 2] vibration excitation, but is fairly important to the thermal rate constant at low temperature. In general, the OH rotation excitation tends to hinder the reaction, and the D[sub 2] rotation excitation tends to enhance the reactivity. The simultaneous reagent rotation has some correlated effect, with the influence of the D[sub 2] rotation excitation considerably dependent on the OH rotation excitation. It is also found that the reaction is strongly dependent on j[sub 12] (the coupled angular momentum between j[sub 1] and j[sub 2]), K[sub 0] (the projection of the reagent rotation on the body fixed axis), and the parity of the system, in particular for either the OH or D[sub 2] rotationally excited initial states, but this dependence becomes relatively weaker as the collision energy increases. Excellent agreement achieved between theory and experiment on the thermal rate coefficients for temperatures up to 400 K clearly shows that the YZCL2 potential energy surface is capable of producing “quantitatively” accurate results for the title reaction. © 2002 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work the H2O–HCN complex is quantitatively characterized in two ways. First, we report a new rigid-monomer 5D intermolecular potential energy surface (PES) for this complex, calculated using the symmetry-adapted perturbation theory based on density functional theory method. The PES is based on 2833 ab initio points computed employing the aug-cc-pVQZ basis set, utilizing the autoPES code, which provides a site-site analytical fit with the long-range region given by perturbation theory. Next, we present the results of the quantum 5D calculations of the fully coupled intermolecular rovibrational states of the H2O–HCN complex for the total angular momentum J values of 0, 1, and 2, performed on the new PES. These calculations rely on the quantum bound-state methodology developed by us recently and applied to a variety of noncovalently bound binary molecular complexes. The vibrationally averaged ground-state geometry of H2O–HCN determined from the quantum 5D calculations agrees very well with that from the microwave spectroscopic measurements. In addition, the computed ground-state rotational transition frequencies, as well as the B and C rotational constants calculated for the ground state of the complex, are in excellent agreement with the experimental values. The assignment of the calculated intermolecular vibrational states of the H2O–HCN complex is surprisingly challenging. It turns out that only the excitations of the intermolecular stretch mode can be assigned with confidence. The coupling among the angular degrees of freedom (DOFs) of the complex is unusually strong, and as a result most of the excited intermolecular states are unassigned. On the other hand, the coupling of the radial, intermolecular stretch mode and the angular DOFs is weak, allowing straightforward assignment of the excitation of the former. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine-learning potentials provide computationally efficient and accurate approximations of the Born–Oppenheimer potential energy surface. This potential determines many materials properties and simulation techniques usually require its gradients, in particular forces and stress for molecular dynamics, and heat flux for thermal transport properties. Recently developed potentials feature high body order and can include equivariant semi-local interactions through message-passing mechanisms. Due to their complex functional forms, they rely on automatic differentiation (AD), overcoming the need for manual implementations or finite-difference schemes to evaluate gradients. This study discusses how to use AD to efficiently obtain forces, stress, and heat flux for such potentials, and provides a model-independent implementation. The method is tested on the Lennard-Jones potential, and then applied to predict cohesive properties and thermal conductivity of tin selenide using an equivariant message-passing neural network potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endohedral fullerenes, or endofullerenes, are chemical systems of fullerene cages encapsulating single atoms or small molecules. These species provide an interesting challenge of Potential Energy Surface determination as examples of non-covalently bonded, bound systems. While the majority of studies focus on C60 as the encapsulating cage, introducing some anisotropy by using a different fullerene, e.g., C70 can unveil a double well potential along the unique axis. By approximating the potential as a pairwise Lennard-Jones (LJ) summation over the fixed C cage atoms, the parameter space of the Hamiltonian includes three tunable variables: (M, ɛ, σ) representing the mass of the trapped species, the LJ energy, and length scales respectively. Fixing the mass and allowing the others to vary can imitate the potentials of endohedral species trapped in more elongated fullerenes. We choose to explore the LJ parameter space of an endohedral atom in C70 with ɛ ∈ [20, 150 cm−1], and σ ∈ [2.85, 3.05 Å]. As the barrier height and positions of these wells vary between [1, 264 cm−1] and [0.35, 0.85 Å] respectively, using a 3D direct product basis of 1D harmonic oscillator (HO) wavefunctions centred at the origin where there is a local maximum is unphysical. Instead we propose the use of a non-orthogonal basis set, using 1D HO wavefunctions centred in each minimum and compare this to other choices. The ground state energy of the X@C70 is tracked across the LJ parameter space, along with its corresponding nuclear translational wavefunctions. A classification of the wavefunction characteristics, namely the prolateness and "peanut-likeness" based on its statistical moments is also proposed. Excited states of longer fullerenes are assigned quantum numbers, and the fundamental transitions of Ne@C70 are tracked across the parameter space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed the polyatomic extension of the established [M. Gustafsson, J. Chem. Phys. 138, 074308 (2013)] classical theory of radiative association in the absence of electronic transitions. The cross section and the emission spectrum of the process is calculated by a quasiclassical trajectory method combined with the classical Larmor formula which can provide the radiated power in collisions. We have also proposed a Monte Carlo scheme for efficient computation of ro-vibrationally quantum state resolved cross sections for radiative association. Besides the method development, the global potential energy and dipole surfaces for H + CN collisions have been calculated and fitted to test our polyatomic semiclassical method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A full-dimensional spin–orbit (SO)-corrected potential energy surface (PES) is developed for the Cl + CH3NH2 multi-channel system. Using the new PES, a comprehensive reaction dynamics investigation is performed for the most reactive hydrogen-abstraction reactions forming HCl + CH2NH2/CH3NH. Hartree–Fock (HF) convergence problems in the reactant region are handled by the ManyHF method, which finds the lowest-energy HF solution considering several different initial guess orbitals. The PES development is carried out with the Robosurfer program package, which iteratively improves the surface. Energy points are computed at the ManyHF-UCCSD(T)-F12a/cc-pVDZ-F12 level of theory combined with basis set (ManyHF-RMP2-F12/cc-pVTZ-F12 – ManyHF-RMP2-F12/cc-pVDZ-F12) and SO (MRCI+Q/aug-cc-pwCVDZ) corrections. Quasi-classical trajectory simulations show that the CH3-side hydrogen abstraction occurs more frequently in contrast to the NH2-side reaction. In both cases, the integral cross sections decrease with increasing collision energy (Ecoll). A reaction mechanism shifting from indirect to direct stripping can be observed from the opacity functions, scattering angle, and translation energy distributions as Ecoll increases. Initial attack angle distributions reveal that chlorine prefers to abstract hydrogen from the approached functional group. The collision-energy dependence of the product energy distributions shows that the initial translational energy mainly transfers to product recoil. The HCl vibrational and rotational energy values are comparable and nearly independent of collision energy, while the CH2NH2 and CH3NH co-products' vibrational energy values are higher than the rotational energy values with more significant Ecoll dependence. The HCl(v = 0) rotational distributions are compared with experiment, setting the direction for future investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The remote sensing of abundance and properties of HCl—the main atmospheric reservoir of Cl atoms that directly participate in ozone depletion—is important for monitoring the partitioning of chlorine between "ozone-depleting" and "reservoir" species. Such remote studies require knowledge of the shapes of molecular resonances of HCl, which are perturbed by collisions with the molecules of the surrounding air. In this work, we report the first fully quantum calculations of collisional perturbations of the shape of a pure rotational line in H35Cl perturbed by an air-relevant molecule [as the first model system we choose the R(0) line in HCl perturbed by O2]. The calculations are performed on our new highly accurate HCl(X1Σ+)–O2( X 3 Σ g − ) potential energy surface. In addition to pressure broadening and shift, we also determine their speed dependencies and the complex Dicke parameter. This gives important input to the community discussion on the physical meaning of the complex Dicke parameter and its relevance for atmospheric spectra (previously, the complex Dicke parameter for such systems was mainly determined from phenomenological fits to experimental spectra and the physical meaning of its value in that context is questionable). We also calculate the temperature dependence of the line shape parameters and obtain agreement with the available experimental data. We estimate the total combined uncertainties of our calculations at 2% relative root-mean-square error in the simulated line shape at 296 K. This result constitutes an important step toward computational population of spectroscopic databases with accurate ab initio line shape parameters for molecular systems of terrestrial atmospheric importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hydrogen abstraction reaction of the cyano radical with molecules of ethane presents some interesting points in the chemistry from ultra-cold to combustion environments especially with regard to HCN(v) product vibrational distribution. In order to understand its dynamics, a new analytical full-dimensional potential energy surface was developed, named PES-2023. It uses a combination of valence bond and mechanic molecular terms as the functional form, fitted to high-level ab initio calculations at the explicitly correlated CCSD(T)-F12/aug-cc-pVTZ level on a reduced and selected number of points describing the reactive process. The new surface showed a continuous and smooth behavior, describing reasonably the topology of the reaction: high exothermicity, low barrier, and presence of intermediate complexes in the entrance and exit channels. Using quasi-classical trajectory calculations (QCT) on the new PES-2023, a dynamics study was performed at room temperature with special emphasis on the HCN(v1,v2,v3) product stretching and bending vibrational excitations, and the results were compared with the experimental evidence, which presented discrepancies in the bending excitation. The available energy was mostly deposited as HCN(v) vibrational energy with the vibrational population inverted in the CH stretching mode and not inverted in the CN stretching and bending modes, thus simulating the experimental evidence. Other dynamics properties at room temperature were also analyzed; cold rotational energy distribution was found, associated with a linear and soft transition state, and backward scattering distribution was found, associated with a rebound mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excited state van der Waals (vdW) potential energy surfaces (PESs) of the NO A2Σ+ + CO2 X 1 Σ g + system are thoroughly investigated using coupled cluster theory and complete active space perturbation theory to second order (CASPT2). First, it is shown that pair natural orbital coupled cluster singles and doubles with perturbative triples yields comparable accuracy compared to CCSD(T) for molecular properties and vdW-minima at a fraction of computational cost of the latter. Using this method in conjunction with highly diffuse basis sets and counterpoise correction for basis set superposition error, the PESs for different intermolecular orientations are investigated. These show numerous vdW-wells, interconnected for all geometries except one, with a maximum depth of up to 830 cm−1; considerably deeper than those on the ground state surface. Multi-reference effects are investigated with CASPT2 calculations. The long-range vdW-surfaces support recent experimental observations relating to rotational energy transfer due the anisotropy in the potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of the presence of Ar on the isomerization reaction HCN ⇄ CNH is investigated via machine learning. After the potential energy surface function is developed based on the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pVQZ level ab initio calculations, classical trajectory simulations are performed. Subsequently, with the aim of extracting insights into the reaction dynamics, the obtained reactivity, that is, whether the reaction occurs or not under a given initial condition, is learned as a function of the initial positions and momenta of all the atoms in the system. The prediction accuracy of the trained model is greater than 95%, indicating that machine learning captures the features of the phase space that affect reactivity. Machine learning models are shown to successfully reproduce reactivity boundaries without any prior knowledge of classical reaction dynamics theory. Subsequent analyses reveal that the Ar atom affects the reaction by displacing the effective saddle point. When the Ar atom is positioned close to the N atom (resp. the C atom), the saddle point shifts to the CNH (HCN) region, which disfavors the forward (backward) reaction. The results imply that analyses aided by machine learning are promising tools for enhancing the understanding of reaction dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fragmentation methods such as MIM (Molecules-in-Molecules) provide a route to accurately model large systems and have been successful in predicting their structures, energies, and spectroscopic properties. However, their use is often limited to systems at equilibrium due to the inherent complications in the choice of fragments in systems away from equilibrium. Furthermore, the presence of charges resulting from any heterolytic bond breaking may increase the fragmentation error. We have previously suggested EE-MIM (Electrostatically Embedded Molecules-In-Molecules) as a method to mitigate the errors resulting from the missing long-range interactions in molecular clusters in equilibrium. Here, we show that the same method can be applied to improve the performance of MIM to solve the longstanding problem of dependency of the fragmentation energy error on the choice of the fragmentation scheme. We chose four widely used acid dissociation reactions (HCl, HClO4, HNO3, and H2SO4) as test cases due to their importance in chemical processes and complex reaction potential energy surfaces. Electrostatic embedding improves the performance at both one and two-layer MIM as shown by lower EE-MIM1 and EE-MIM2 errors. The EE-MIM errors are also demonstrated to be less dependent on the choice of the fragmentation scheme by analyzing the variation in fragmentation energy at the points with more than one possible fragmentation scheme (points where the fragmentation scheme changes). EE-MIM2 with M06-2X as the low-level resulted in a variation of less than 1 kcal/mol for all the cases and 1 kJ/mol for all but three cases, rendering our method fragmentation scheme-independent for acid dissociation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potential energy surface (PES) describing the interaction of the methanol molecule with molecular hydrogen has been calculated by the use of the explicitly correlated coupled cluster method, including single, double, and (perturbative) triple excitations [CCSD(T)-F12a] and a correlation-consistent aug-cc-pVTZ basis, with the assumption of fixed molecular geometries. The computed points were fit to a functional form appropriate for time-independent quantum scattering calculations of rotationally inelastic cross sections and rate coefficients. Stationary points on the PES were located, and the global minimum was found to have an energy equal to −254.7 cm−1 relative to the energy of the separated molecules. This PES was used in time-independent close coupling quantum scattering calculations to determine state-to-state cross sections and rate coefficients for rotational transitions within the A- and E-type nuclear spin torsional ground states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate multireference electronic structure calculations are important for constructing potential energy surfaces. Still, even in the case of low-scaling methods, their routine use is limited by the steep growth of the computational and storage costs as the active space grows. This is primarily due to the occurrence of three- and higher-body density matrices or, equivalently, their cumulants. This work examines the effect of various cumulant truncation schemes on the accuracy of the driven similarity renormalization group second-order multireference perturbation theory. We test four different levels of three-body reduced density cumulant truncations that set different classes of cumulant elements to zero. Our test cases include the singlet–triplet gap of CH2, the potential energy curves of the X Σ g + 1 and A Σ u + 3 states of N2, and the singlet–triplet splittings of oligoacenes. Our results show that both relative and absolute errors introduced by these cumulant truncations can be as small as 0.5 kcal mol−1 or less. At the same time, the amount of memory required is reduced from O ( N A 6 ) to O ( N A 5 ) , where NA is the number of active orbitals. No additional regularization is needed to prevent the intruder state problem in the cumulant-truncated second-order driven similarity renormalization group multireference perturbation theory methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New intermolecular potential energy surfaces (PESs) for the quintet, triplet, and singlet states of two rigid oxygen (O2) molecules in their triplet ground electronic states were developed. Quintet interaction energies were obtained for 896 O2–O2 configurations by supermolecular coupled cluster (CC) calculations at levels up to CC with single, double, triple, and perturbative quadruple excitations [CCSDT(Q)] with unrestricted Hartree–Fock (UHF) reference wave functions. Corrections for scalar relativistic effects were calculated as well. Triplet interaction energies were obtained by combining the quintet interaction energies with accurate estimates for the differences between the quintet and triplet energies obtained at the UHF-CCSD(T) level of theory. Here, we exploited the fact that the triplet state is almost identical to the readily accessible "broken-symmetry" state, as shown by Valentin-Rodríguez et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 152, 184304 (2020)]. The singlet interaction energies were estimated from the quintet and triplet interaction energies by employing the Heisenberg Hamiltonian description of the spin splittings. The three PESs are represented analytically by site–site models with five sites per molecule and anisotropic site–site interactions. To validate the PESs, we calculated at temperatures from 55 to 2000 K the second virial coefficient using statistical thermodynamics and the shear viscosity, thermal conductivity, and self-diffusion coefficient in the dilute gas phase using the kinetic theory of molecular gases. The calculated property values are in excellent agreement with the most accurate experimental data from the literature. Therefore, we also propose new reference correlations for the investigated properties based solely on the calculated values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When an activated complex, as defined in transition state theory (TST), has a polyhedral shape, its kinetic energy is found to be diagonal in a system of spherical polar coordinates. If, in addition, the polyhedron is characterized by a high symmetry, then its dynamics considerably simplifies. An application of this approach to the most symmetrical TS known to date, i.e., that which controls the Cl− + CH3Cl → ClCH3 + Cl− SN2 nucleophilic substitution, is presented and an analytical expression of its potential energy surface is provided. In a substantial range around the saddle point, approximate equations of motion for the two components of the reaction coordinate, i.e., the antisymmetrical stretching motion of the ClCCl core and the wagging motion of the hydrogen triad, can be derived in an analytical form. During an extensive period of time, the main component of the reaction coordinate is governed by an unexpectedly simple equation of motion that depends on a single initial condition, irrespective of the other ones and of the internal energy. Reactive trajectories are observed to form a perfectly collimated bundle characterized by undetectable dispersion, thereby giving a spectacular example of regular dynamics in an anharmonic potential. Regularity and collimation are brought about by local symmetry, which is a widespread feature of potential energy surfaces. Anharmonicity is observed to influence the dynamics only at a late stage. As energy increases, trajectories tend to fan out and to deviate from the analytical equation. For the wagging motion, chaos sets in at much lower energies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A previous calculation for H+N2 [Walch, Duchovic, and Rohlfing, J. Chem. Phys. 90, 3230 (1989)] focused on the minimum energy path (MEP) region of the potential energy surface and on estimates of the lifetime of the HN2 species. In this paper, we report energies computed at geometries selected to permit a global representation of the potential energy surface (PES). As in the previous work, the calculations were performed using the complete active space self-consistent field/externally contracted configuration interaction (CASSCF/CCI) method. The surface was characterized using the same basis set as in the previous paper except that an improved contraction of the H s basis is used. Calculations with a larger basis set were carried out along an approximate MEP obtained with the smaller basis set. The new PES exhibits a sharp curvature, which was not present in the previous calculations, and has a slightly narrower and smaller barrier to dissociation. Saddle points for H atom exchange via collinear and T-shaped HN2 complexes are also reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report here a new determination of the H216O potential energy surface from experimental data. The calculations have been carried out by means of the very accurate and highly efficient method proposed and applied to H216O in a previous paper [Polyansky, Jensen, and Tennyson, J. Chem. Phys. 101, 7651 (1994)]. This previous work has been significantly improved by inclusion of additional terms in the analytical expression used to represent the potential energy surface. Previously, 1600 rotation-vibration term values for H216O were fitted with a standard deviation of 0.36 cm-1. With the extended model of the present work, this standard deviation could be improved to 0.25 cm-1. With the extended model and the new fitted potential function we have calculated a data set comprising 3200 term values, all of which can be compared with experimentally derived values. The standard deviation for this data set is 0.6 cm-1. The data set contains rotationally excited energy levels for all the 63 vibrational states which have been characterized by high resolution spectroscopy. The potential energy function obtained in the present work improves drastically the agreement with experiment for the highly excited local mode stretching states above 20 000 cm-1. For the vibrational band origins of these states, the highest of which is measured at 25 118 cm-1, our previous fitted potential produced discrepancies of more than 100 cm-1. These deviations are reduced to less than 1 cm-1 by the potential energy function of the present work. We show that no significant improvement of the fit can be obtained by extending the analytical expression for the potential energy by further high-order terms. An analysis of the residuals shows that at the level of accuracy achieved, the major contribution to the error originates in the neglect of nonadiabatic correction terms in the Born-Oppenheimer kinetic energy operator. We conclude that any further improvement of the potential energy surface... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, ab initio calculations at MP2/RHF level are performed with different basis sets 6-31G(d,p), 6-311G(d,p), and 6-311(df ,p) to determine the potential energy functions, the kinetic parameters, and the dipole moment components as a function of the double methyl rotation in dimethylamine (DMA) and dimethylphosphine (DMP). From the potential energy and kinetic parameters, the torsional energy levels and torsional functions are determined, and from the dipole moment variations, the far infrared spectra are synthesized by calculating both the frequencies and the intensities. The results are in relatively good agreement with experimental spectra. Calculations confirm the assignments performed with the experimental potentials fitted with only five terms. The calculations, however, allow to reassign the observed band at 239.8 cm[SUP-1] in DMA and at 177.2 cm[SUP-1] in DMP to the superimposition of two different transitions: the 03→04 third sequence and an 10→11 vibrationally excited fundamental. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the calculation of the potential energy surfaces (PES) for the electronic singlet states of C2v and C∞v symmetries of a nitrogen molecule interacting with the atomic hydrogen negative ion. The behavior of such surfaces is analyzed as a function of relative orientations and also of the molecular internal coordinate. The PES’s have been obtained using an ab initio, multireference configuration interaction method (MRDCI) and the effects of correlation forces and of basis set size are analyzed in order to understand the role of electron transfer (ET) processes which are likely to take place during closer collisions between partners and which are suggested to be responsible for the vibronic coupling effects which occur during low-energy scattering. The general features of the orientational anisotropy of this interaction, of its dependence on the molecular coordinate, and of the strength of its coupling with the impinging negative ion are also analyzed and discussed. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quasiclassical trajectory calculations on the Muckerman V potential energy surface were carried out for the reaction F+HD(υ=0, J)→FH+D or FD+H. The reactive cross sections for the two product channels as well as the isotope effect were calculated for J=0 over the relative collision energy range 0.8–900 kcal/mol and also for 0≤J≤10 at a collision energy of 2 kcal/mol. The results are compared to those for F+H2→FH+H. The goal of this work was to understand the remarkable isotope effect behavior in both sets of calculations. It proved useful to decompose the reactive cross sections QR(FH) and QR(FD) into the product of three factors; the cross sections for F hitting the H end and the D end of HD, Qhit(FHD) and Qhit(FDH); the probabilities of reacting to give either FH or FD once the H end or D end is hit, PR(FHD) and PR(FDH); and the corrections for knockout collisions at both ends of the molecule, CKO(FHD) and CKO(FDH). (A knockout collision is one where the F atom initially hits the H end but reacts to form FD or vice versa.) All three factors make important contributions to the isotope effect. At low collision energies for J=0 FD is favored over FH because F hits the D end of HD more often and because the overall reactivity is higher at the D end. Both effects become less important at higher energies, but above 30 kcal/mol knockout reactions strongly favor the production of FD. The isotope effect as a function of J is quite remarkable. Although FD is favored for J=0 at E=2 kcal/mol, by J=3 no trajectories hit the D end, and no DF is formed. But at J=7 DF product reappears, coinciding with the onset of knockout reactions and an increase in reactivity at both ends of HD. We attribute all of these effects to the ability of the system at high J to rotate through the barrier separating the reactant valleys at each end of HD. The results obtained in this paper are explained by reference to special features of the potential... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present here computational results on 15 C2v potential energy surfaces (PES) of H2O in its singlet state, while further results on the doublet state of the cation of the same system will be reported in a following paper. The PES are shown as 2D contour maps. Reaction pathways for symmetric dissociation of H2O and photoionisation spectra of H2O are discussed and analyzed in some detail. The results were obtained using ab initio multireference configuration interaction (MRDCI) calculations at 184 nuclear arrangements and should provide one of the most extensive analysis of the electronic features of this very important chemical system. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we demonstrate, at the UHF/6-311++G(d,p) level of theory, the practical feasibility of using ab initio quantum chemical calculations to generate a molecular potential energy surface (PES) for the OH+H2→H2O+H reaction using our previously suggested interpolation and iteration schemes. The successful, and almost completely automated, merger of the PES algorithm and quantum chemical calculations involves a number of significant practical problems, the solutions of which are presented in detail. The convergence of the interpolated potential surface was monitored in terms of reaction probability and we find that the surface converges once the energy, gradient and Hessian have been calculated at approximately 350 geometries. We also find that, although the initial geometries used consisted only of points along a reaction path for the OH+H2→H2O+H reaction, the potential energy surface iteration process rapidly adds information about other, energetically accessible, reaction channels. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new theory is presented for calculating the Helmholtz free energy based on the potential energy distribution function. The usual expressions of free energy, internal energy and entropy involving the partition function are rephrased in terms of the potential energy distribution function, which must be a near Gaussian one, according to the central limit theorem. We obtained expressions for the free energy and entropy with respect to the ideal gas, in terms of the potential energy moments. These can be linked to the average potential energy and its derivatives in temperature. Using thermodynamical relationships we also produce a general differential equation for the free energy as a function of temperature at fixed volume. In this paper we investigate possible exact and approximated solutions. The method was tested on a theoretical model for a solid (classical harmonic solid) and some experimental liquids. The harmonic solid has an energy distribution, which can be derived exactly from the theory. Experimental free energies of water and methanol could be reproduced very well over a temperature range of more than 300 K. For water, where the appropriate experimental data were available, also the energy and heat capacity could be reproduced very well. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the first of a series of papers in which we investigate the unimolecular dissociation of hydroperoxyl. Using the DMBE IV potential energy surface [Pastrana et al., J. Phys. Chem. 94, 8073 (1990)], in the present study 726 bound states of HO2(X) up to the H+O2 dissociation threshold are calculated in an attempt to access the extent of the coupling between the modes of the system. The first approach involves an analysis of the nodal structure of the wave functions. While the wave functions for the lowest states are regular and assignable, the degree of mixing and complexity rapidly increases with energy. The wave functions close to the dissociation threshold are mostly irregular without any clear cut nodal structure and fill the entire coordinate space available. Nevertheless, a small number of regular states, that are associated with large excitation in the O2 stretching coordinate and no or only little excitation in the other modes, are found even at high energies. The second approach used to study the degree of intramolecular coupling is an analysis of the energy spectrum. The nearest neighbor level spacing distribution, which probes the short-range correlation, as well as the Σ2 and Δ3 statistics, which are sensitive to the long-range correlations in the spectrum, are investigated and compared to the distributions predicted for regular and irregular spectra. Both of these approaches indicate that the system is almost totally irregular with a Brody parameter of about 92%. In addition, the sum of states at a particular energy, which is extremely important in all statistical models for unimolecular dissociation, is approximately calculated from the volume of classical phase space and found to be in excellent agreement with the exact quantum mechanical result. © 1995 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The determination of potential energy surfaces (PES) from values calculated ab initio at a set of points or from spectral data (vibration–rotation energy level information and rotation constants) are important and often difficult problems. The former is a ‘‘potential interpolation’’ problem, the latter a ‘‘potential inversion’’ problem. These are indeterminate problems in which the known data is insufficient to yield a unique solution. We present here a new constrained variational approach to the direct solution of these problems. The constraints are the known exact values of the potential or the exact perturbation corrections desired. The variational functional is chosen to provide control of the magnitude and smoothness of the correction function or potential. The method is very simple, very fast computationally, and yields exact solutions to the perturbation or interpolation equations in a single application. The potential inversion is completed by iteration to converge the perturbation solutions for a given set of assigned levels, and then by repeating with additional levels assigned in sequence to the data set to yield a physically acceptable PES very quickly. This procedure yields a smooth PES from which the energy levels in the dataset are calculated exactly. Information on rotational constants may also be used. Both interpolation and inversion procedures are applied to the the two dimensional (R,θ) PES for ArOH(A 2Σ+). A combined application of these two procedures is also presented in the paper, where we first interpolate a PES from ab initio points and then correct the ab initio fitted surfaces using spectral data. © 1995 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]