TOTAL AND PARTIAL DECAY WIDTHS IN VIBRATIONAL PREDISSOCIATION OF THE HEI2 VAN DER WAALS COMPLEX FOR LOWER INITIAL VIBRATIONAL EXCITATIONS

摘要

We presented a calculation of the total and partial decay widths of vibrational predissociation (VP) of the HeI2 molecule for low initial vibrational excitations from the lowest van der Waals (vdW) state with total angular momentum J = 0. A time-dependent golden rule wave-packet method was employed in our numerical calculations for the decay widths. The computed total decay widths, lifetimes, and rates of VP are in fairly good agreement with those extrapolated from the experimental data available. Predicted total decay widths as a function of initial vibrational levels exhibit a highly nonlinear behavior. These results demonstrate that a quantum mechanical decay mode for low vibrational excitation remains as well. The total propagation time needed in the time-dependent golden rule wave-packet calculations is much shorter than is the lifetime of the predissociation of HeI2. It is shown that the final-state interaction between the fragments is important for determining the final rotational-state distribution (partial decay width). We find that the major peak position in the final rotational-state distribution shifts to lower rotational energy levels with increase of the initial vibrational quantum number, which is evidently different from that for higher vibrational levels. This fact can be clearly explained by the dependence of the amount of kinetic energy released to the product degrees of freedom on the initial vibrational state. (C) 1997 John Wiley a Sons, Inc. [References: 19]