Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol.106, No.17, 7080-7089, 1997
Collisional Energy-Transfer Between Ar and Normal and Vibrationally and Rotationally Frozen Internally Excited Benzene-Trajectory Calculations
Quasiclasical trajectory calculations of energy transfer between an exited benzene molecule and an argon atom were performed. Values of average energy transferred per collision, [Delta E], were calculated. Three cases were investigated. (a) Collisions with unconstrained "normal" initial conditions. (b) Collisions where the rotations of the benzene molecule are initially "frozen." (c) Collisions where the out-of-plane vibrations of the benzene molecule are initially "frozen." The distributions of [Delta E] vs collision durations and the values of [Delta E] for collisions with frozen degrees of freedom are different than those obtained in normal collisions. This indicates the effects these modes have on the energy transfer process. The effect of rotations was found to be the largest. This indicates the predominant role rotations play in the energy transfer process. The effect of out-of-plane vibrations on the efficiency of energy transfer corroborates quantum mechanical calculations which show that out-of-plane motions are particularly efficient in energy transfer [Clary, Berenshtein, Oref, Gilbert Faraday Discussions 102 (1995)]. One in every 800 trajectories with normal initial conditions was found to be a supercollision. For frozen out-of-plane vibration the number dropped to one in 1500 and for frozen rotations it dropped even further to one in 4000. This shows the effect these wide angle motions have on the production of supercollisions. An impact parameter "window" was created in the initial conditions which enable an enhanced production of supercollisions by a factor of 4 thus helping to create a "bank" of supercollisions. Analysis of the trajectories of supercollisions in the bank shows that the condition for obtaining supercollisions are dynamic in nature. The atom approaches the molecule perpendicularly and it is in phase with a highly excited out-of-plane motion anti/or is hit by a fast rotating molecule. This also agrees very well with the previous work quoted above. It is found that collisions, including supercollisions, are short lived. similar to 60% of all inelastically scattered collisions last less than 140 fs and the rest last less than 500 fs. The number of long lived complex forming collisions is negligible.
Keywords:POLYATOMIC-MOLECULES;TOLUENE SYSTEMS;WALK MODEL;BATH GAS;RELAXATION;DEPENDENCE;TEMPERATURE;DYNAMICS;SUPERCOLLISIONS;HEXAFLUOROBENZENE