Journal of Physical Chemistry A, Vol.103, No.33, 6552-6563, 1999
Dissociative recombination of H3O+
Ab initio molecular orbital calculations have been performed on potential energy surfaces associated with products of dissociative recombination (DR) of H3O+ + e(-) experiments carried out in the ASTRID heavy-ion storage ring. Gradient geometry optimizations and frequency calculations on critical points on the H3O ground-electronic-state surface and its dissociation paths were performed at levels of theory up to and including MP2(full)/6-311G(d,p) with extra diffuse functions added to the oxygen atom; single-point calculations subsequently were performed at levels up to CCSD(T) with the same basis set. Dissociation pathways of the two lowest-energy valence-to-Rydberg H3O excited states were studied using CIS single-point calculations on SCF-level optimized geometries along ground-state H3O dissociation pathways, and no barriers to fragmentation were observed. The most exothermic ground-state dissociation pathway connects H3O to H2O (X(1)A(1)) + H; however, OH(X(2)Pi) + H-2 and OH(X(2)Pi) + 2H also are energetically accessible products. Dissociation of the two valence-to-Rydberg electronically excited H3O species lead to these same products but also lead to products (OH(A(2)Sigma) + H-2, OH(A(2)Sigma) + 2H) which are energetically inaccessible from groundstate H3O. These computational results provide a detailed understanding of the intricacies of the observed experimental processes, and suggest future experimental investigations on the subject.