Time-dependent quantum mechanical calculations on H+O2 for total angular momentum J>0

Abstract

The H+O2→OH+O reaction has been studied with a time-dependent wave packet method for total angular momentum J=0, 1, 2, and 5, using the Coriolis coupled method [E. M. Goldfield and S. K. Gray, Comp. Phys. Commun. 98, 1 (1996)] on parallel computers. We find that at higher energies the total reaction probability decreases by a factor of 2 in going from a J=0 calculation to a J=1 calculation. The effect for higher J with respect to J=1 is less dramatic. We investigated the decrease in reaction probability for J>0 by examining the different initial conditions with respect to Ω, the projection of J onto the body-fixed z axis for the J>0 calculations. We conclude that the reaction probability is a strong function of Ω. If Ω=0 for J>0, collision geometries are accessible that lead to an enhanced reaction probability.