TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENCE OF THE CHARGE LINEAR DIPOLE CAPTURE RATE-CONSTANT

The effect of different molecular parameters on the temperature depend ence of the adiabatic charge-dipole capture rate constant is examined. Generally, such a rate constant depends on three dimensionless parame ters. The relationship is so involved that two-parametric interpolatio n formulae developed by Tree are not always valid. Tree's formulae wor k perfectly well for the systems that feature large enough values for the parameter xi. Most physically realistic ion-dipole captures belong to this class. However, thermal electron-dipole captures feature smal l xi; dynamics is, consequently, non-adiabatic, and the low-temperatur e limit to the capture rate is not observed. Two-parametric interpolat ion overestimates the exact value under such conditions. (C) 1997 Publ ished by Elsevier Science B.V.