Abstract
The mechanism of the shift, broadening, and quenching of the ammonia inversion frequency with gas pressure has been a problem of lively interest for over 70 years. A simple quantum model of the ammonia molecule perturbed by collisions with ideal gas molecules displays the essential features of the experimental data for NH{sub 3} and for ND{sub 3}. The model does not display the behavior expected from theories of environmental decoherence. On the other hand, models of perturbed classical oscillators do display behavior similar to our model and to experimental data. The quenching of the ammonia inversion transition cannot therefore be interpreted as spatial localization of the wave function.
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