Theoretical investigations of the Au++H2 reactive scattering by the time-dependent quantum wave packet method

Abstract

Employing the state-to-state time-dependent quantum wave packet method, the Au[Formula: see text]H2 reactive scattering with initial states [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and 1 were investigated. Total reaction probabilities, product state-resolved integral cross-sections (ICSs) and differential cross-sections (DCSs) were calculated up to collision energy of 4.5 eV. The numerical results show that total reaction probabilities and ICSs increase with increasing collision energies, and there is little effect to the reactive scattering processes from the rotational excitation of H2 molecule. Below collision energy of around 3.0 eV, the role of the potential well in the entrance channel is significant and the reactive scattering proceeds dominantly by an indirect process, which leads to a nearly symmetric shape of the DCSs. With collision energy higher than 4.0 eV, the reactive scattering proceeds through a direct process, which leads to a forward biased DCSs, and also a hotter rotational distributions of the products. Total ICS agrees with the results by the quasi-classical trajectories theory very well, which suggests that the quantum effects in this reactive process are not obvious. However, the agreement between the experimental total cross-section and our theoretical result is not so good. This may be due to the uncertainty of the experiment or/and the inaccuracy of the potential energy surface.