Simple theory of diffuse vibrational structure in continuous uv spectra of polyatomic molecules. I. Collinear photodissociation of symmetric triatomics

Abstract

A theory for the direct photodissociation of polyatomic molecules is presented, and it is shown that uv absorption spectra into simply dissociative upper electronic states can have considerable vibrational structure. This provides a simple interpretation of many of the ’’diffuse vibrational bands superimposed on continua’’ often seen in polyatomic spectra.