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Main Authors: Krajňák, Vladimír, Wiggins, Stephen
Format: Preprint
Published: 2020
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.03170
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author Krajňák, Vladimír
Wiggins, Stephen
author_facet Krajňák, Vladimír
Wiggins, Stephen
contents We investigate roaming in the photodissociation of acetaldehyde (CH$_3$CHO), providing insight into the contrasting roaming dynamics observed for this molecule compared to formaldehyde. We carry out trajectory studies for full-dimensional acetaldehyde, supplemented with an analysis of a two degree-of-freedom restricted model and obtain evidence for two distinct roaming pathways. Trajectories exhibit roaming at both shorter (9-11.5 au) and larger (14.5-22.9 au) maximum CH$_3$-HCO separations, characterized by differing amounts of HCO rotation. No roaming trajectories were found in the intervening gap region. The roaming dynamics near 14.5-22.9 au are well-reproduced by the restricted model and involve passage through a centrifugal barrier, analogous to formaldehyde roaming. However, the shorter-range 9-11.5 au roaming appears unique to acetaldehyde, and is likely facilitated by repulsive interactions absent in the simplified models. Phase space analysis reveals that this additional roaming pathway is inaccessible in the reduced dimensionality system. The findings suggest acetaldehyde's increased propensity for roaming compared to formaldehyde may arise from the presence of multiple distinct roaming mechanisms rather than solely the higher roaming fragment mass.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2008_03170
institution arXiv
publishDate 2020
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Roaming in acetaldehyde
Krajňák, Vladimír
Wiggins, Stephen
Dynamical Systems
Chemical Physics
We investigate roaming in the photodissociation of acetaldehyde (CH$_3$CHO), providing insight into the contrasting roaming dynamics observed for this molecule compared to formaldehyde. We carry out trajectory studies for full-dimensional acetaldehyde, supplemented with an analysis of a two degree-of-freedom restricted model and obtain evidence for two distinct roaming pathways. Trajectories exhibit roaming at both shorter (9-11.5 au) and larger (14.5-22.9 au) maximum CH$_3$-HCO separations, characterized by differing amounts of HCO rotation. No roaming trajectories were found in the intervening gap region. The roaming dynamics near 14.5-22.9 au are well-reproduced by the restricted model and involve passage through a centrifugal barrier, analogous to formaldehyde roaming. However, the shorter-range 9-11.5 au roaming appears unique to acetaldehyde, and is likely facilitated by repulsive interactions absent in the simplified models. Phase space analysis reveals that this additional roaming pathway is inaccessible in the reduced dimensionality system. The findings suggest acetaldehyde's increased propensity for roaming compared to formaldehyde may arise from the presence of multiple distinct roaming mechanisms rather than solely the higher roaming fragment mass.
title Roaming in acetaldehyde
topic Dynamical Systems
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.03170