BALLISTIC AND DISSOCIATIVE COLLISIONS OF A RARE-GAS ATOM WITH A HALOGEN MOLECULE

Efficient vibrational excitation and dissociation of halogen molecules have been observed in molecular dynamics simulations of shock-heated rare-gas clusters. We discuss the propensity for such transfers in a s ingle atom-molecule collision and present classical trajectory computa tional results. Rather large cross sections are reported. It is expect ed that in a real experiment some of the flux will be diverted to elec tronic excitation.