Information-theoretic analysis of rotational distributions from quantal and quasiclassical computations of reactive and nonreactive scattering

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1976 · Int. J. Quant. Chem., Symp.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6773700

Bernstein, R B

An information-theoretic approach to the analysis of rotational excitation cross sections was developed by Levine, Bernstein, Johnson, Procaccia, and coworkers and applied to state-to-state cross sections available from numerical computations of reactive and nonreactive scattering (for example, by Wyatt and Kuppermann and their coworkers and by Pack and Pattengill and others). The rotational surprisals are approximately linear in the energy transferred, thereby accounting for the so-called ''exponential gap law'' for rotational relaxation discovered experimentally by Polanyi, Woodall, and Ding. For the ''linear surprisal'' case the unique relation between the surprisal parameter theta/sub R/ and the first moment of the rotational energy distribution provides a link between the pattern of the rotational state distribution and those features of the potential surface which govern the average energy transfer.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Texas, Austin
• OSTI ID: 6773700
• Report Number(s): CONF-760147-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Int. J. Quant. Chem., Symp.; (United States) Journal Volume: 10
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640304* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Collision Phenomena
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOM-MOLECULE COLLISIONS
COLLISIONS
CROSS SECTIONS
ENERGY LEVELS
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EXCITATION
EXCITED STATES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MOLECULAR MODELS
MOLECULE COLLISIONS
ROTATIONAL STATES