6533b7d4fe1ef96bd12632f0

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Nonadiabatic transitions between lambda-doubling states in the capture of a diatomic molecule by an ion

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The low-energy capture of a dipolar diatomic molecule in an adiabatically isolated electronic state with a good quantum number Hund’s coupling case a by an ion occurs adiabatically with respect to rotational transitions of the diatom. However, the capture dynamics may be nonadiabatic with respect to transitions between the pair of the -doubling states belonging to the same value of the intrinsic angular momentum j. In this work, nonadiabatic transition probabilities are calculated which define the -doubling j-specific capture rate coefficients. It is shown that the transition from linear to quadratic Stark effect in the ion-dipole interaction, which damps the T �1/2 divergence of the capture rate coefficient calculated with vanishing -doubling splitting, occurs in the adiabatic regime with respect to transitions between -doubling adiabatic channel potentials. This allows one to suggest simple analytical expressions for the rate coefficients in the temperature range which covers the region between the sudden and the adiabatic limits with respect to the -doubling states. © 2008 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2913519