Pseudo–Jahn-Teller interaction among electronic resonant states of H3

Abstract

We study the electronic resonant states of H3 with energies above the potential energy surface of the H3+ ground state. These resonant states are important for the dissociative recombination of H3+ at higher collision energies, and previous studies have indicated that these resonant states exhibit a triple intersection. We introduce a complex generalization of the pseudo-Jahn-Teller model to describe these resonant states. The potential energies and the autoionization widths of the resonant states are computed with electron scattering calculations using the complex Kohn variational method, and the complex model parameters are extracted by a least-square fit to the results. This treatment results in a non-Hermitian pseudo-Jahn-Teller Hamiltonian describing the system. The non-adiabatic coupling and geometric phase are further calculated and used to characterize the enriched topology of the complex adiabatic potential energy surfaces.