Long-Lived Collision Complexes in Molecular Beam Scattering Experiments

Abstract

Evidence is reported for long-lived complexes formed in nonreactive collisions in crossed molecular beams of alkali metals and a number of compounds, most of them containing oxygen atoms. Experimental details and a description of the reduction of data into center-of-mass quantities are given. Differential scattering cross sections and distributions of final relative kinetic energy are deduced. A calculation using a statistical theory for one of the systems studied, K + SO2, is compared with the experimental results.