A quasi-classical trajectory study of the reagent initial rotation quantum state effect on the reaction He + T2+ → HeT+ + T using an improved ab initio potential energy surface

Abstract

In this work, we employed the quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) method to study the vector correlations and the influence of the reagent initial rotational quantum number j for the reaction He + T2+ (v = 0, j = 0–3) → HeT+ + T on a new potential energy surface (PES). The PES was improved by Aquilanti co-workers (Chem. Phys. Lett. 2009. 469: 26–30). The polarization-dependent differential cross sections (PDDCSs) and the distributions of P(θr), P([Formula: see text]r), and P(θr, [Formula: see text]r) are presented in this work. The plots of the PDDCSs provide us with abundant information about the distribution of the product angular momentum polarization. The P(θr) is used to describe the correlation between k (the relative velocity of the reagent) and j′ (the product rotational angular momentum). The distribution of dihedral angle P([Formula: see text]r) shows the k–k′–j′ (k′ refers to the relative velocity of the product) correlation. The PDDCS calculations illustrate that the product of this reaction is mainly backward scatter and it has the strongest polarization in the backward and sideways scattering directions. At the same time, the results of the P([Formula: see text]r) demonstrate that the product HeT+ tends to be oriented along the positive direction of the y axis and it tends to rotate right-handedly in planes parallel to the scattering plane. Moreover, the distribution of the P(θr) manifests that the product angular momentum is aligned along different directions relative to k. The direction of the product alignment may be perpendicular, opposite, or parallel to k. Moreover, our calculations are independent of the initial rotational quantum number.