UNIMOLECULAR REACTIONS IN A SPHERICALLY SYMMETRICAL POTENTIAL .3. LIFETIMES OF COLLISION COMPLEXES

We describe an analytical procedure for obtaining rate constants, bran ching ratios, and kinetic energy distributions following the unimolecu lar dissociation of a species with arbitrary energy and angular moment um. With it the effects of small changes in the assumed potential ener gy surface can be readily examined. Limitations to the Rice-Gershinowi tz hypothesis concerning angular momentum effects are identified. It i s further shown how angular momentum can affect a branching ratio and thus, indirectly, a kinetic energy distribution.