A ``statistical'' theory of chemical reaction rates based on ``scattering theory'' in the strong coupling approximation is presented. The theory is developed explicitly for reactions involving the dissociation and recombination of a diatomic molecule in the presence of an atomic catalyst but is also readily applicable to other reactions. The theory formally includes Wigner's theory of threehyphen;body recombination and the classical theories of both recombination and dissociation. A limited comparison with experiment shows reasonable agreement.
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