Collinear collision of an atom and a Morse oscillator: exact quantum mechanical results

Abstract

Exact quantum mechanical vibrational transition probabilities are obtained for a collinear atom-diatomic molecule collision using the reactance matrix K. Both the Morse and harmonic binding potentials are considered and it is shown that the transition probabilities for the Morse oscillator may differ considerably from the equivalent harmonic oscillator results. The exact transition probabilities are compared with those of several approximate theories, and it is shown that the revised first order distorted wave approximation of Mies is valid, provided that the scaled reduced mass (m) of the incident atom is not large.