Abstract

The angle, distance and vibration dependence of the Ar-CO intermolecular potential is calculated using the electron gas model to obtain the short range interaction which is smoothly joined onto the long range van der Waals tail which is obtained from accurate C_6, C_7, and C_8 coefficients. Our calculated second interaction virial coefficients are compared with experiment and with a simple adjustment of the Ar-CO potential an excellent agreement is obtained. Our spherically averaged potential is also in excellent agreement with a spherical potential inferred from high energy scattering data. Simplified expressions for the scattering amplitude and differential cross section are obtained in the infinite order sudden approximation. Then, treating the rotations and vibrations in the infinite order sudden and close coupling approximations respectively, vibrational transition probabilities and relaxation rates are calculated using the Ar-CO intermolecular potential. Our calculated vibrational relaxation rates are much smaller than the experimental values.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Chemistry and Biochemistry

Rights

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