Abstract
We present a quantal study of the rotationally elastic and inelastic scattering of Ag and N(2), with the nitrogen molecule treated as a rigid rotor. The two-dimensional potential energy surface of the AgN(2) complex is obtained ab initio by means of the spin unrestricted coupled-cluster method with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations. The global minimum is found to be located at an internuclear distance of 8.13 a(0) and an angle of 127.2°. The long-range part of the potential is constructed from the dynamic electric dipole polarizabilities of Ag and N(2). Elastic, excitation, and relaxation cross sections and rates are calculated for energies between 0.1 and 5000 cm(-1). The momentum transfer cross sections and rates are also computed. Finally, we compare the cross sections for Ag-N(2) and Na-N(2) to explore the possibility of using silver instead of sodium in experimental tests.
Highlights
Sodium laser guide stars are currently in operation or under development at major ground-based telescopes in order to improve the use of adaptive optics
If the mass difference between the two systems is neglected, we find that the rates for Na–N2 and Ag–N2 collisions differ by at most 10% over the range of temperatures considered in this work
We have obtained the two-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) of the ground state of the AgN2 complex by means of the coupled-cluster method implemented in MOLPRO with the N2 internuclear distance fixed to its equilibrium geometry
Summary
Sodium laser guide stars are currently in operation or under development at major ground-based telescopes in order to improve the use of adaptive optics. It is important to consider the effects of these collisions in the context of the use of mesospheric sodium in remote-detection magnetometry.. We have recently performed a theoretical investigation of Na–N2 collisions using the close-coupling method for temperatures between 100 and 300 K,3 but the cross sections for collisions of Na with O and O2 are still unknown. 1000 K, and we compare these results to the calculations recently reported on Na–N2 scattering to investigate the possibility of using Ag as a substitute for Na in experimental tests
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