Abstract
A procedure for the estimation of the relative rates of energy transfer among the vibrotational states of a diatomic molecule in a nonreactive collision is presented. It is found that these rates are dominated by two opposing dynamical constraints: 1. Inertia of the linear momentum of the relative motion. 2. The tendency to conserve the molecular angular momentum. The detailed product distributions are constructed by a procedure which maximizes the entropy of the density matrix subject to the dynamical constraints. The results are compared to experimental measurements and quantum mechanical calculations.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 257-271 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Chemical Physics |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 15 Jul 1977 |