VIBRATIONAL-RELAXATION IN SIMPLE FLUIDS - A COMPARISON OF EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS TO THE PREDICTIONS OF ISOLATED BINARY COLLISION-THEORY

The modeling of the vibrational relaxation of molecules in simple liqu ids was tested using a number of implementations of isolated binary co llision theory. These investigations are valuable for both the knowled ge that is gained and because the models are compared to the well stud ied experimental system of iodine vibrationally relaxing in liquid xen on. The model started with a one-dimensional trajectory calculation in order to predict the transition probability of vibrational relaxation as a function of vibrational energy in the iodine molecule. The densi ty dependence of the vibrational relaxation from experiment and molecu lar dynamics over a large part of the Lennard-Jones phase diagram are compared to the prediction of a number of implementations. For the mos t part the simple models are successful, however, problems with the si mple models and their implementation are also discussed.