Collisions of noble gas dimers with monomers: A classical trajectory study

Both classical and quasiclassical trajectories are used to study the dissoc iation of noble gas dimers and the transitions between stable and metastabl e dimers induced by collisions with noble gas atoms. Thermal reaction rates are reported for these processes over a 0.3-3.5 range of reduced temperatu res, T* = (k(B)T)/epsilon. Classical and quasiclassical data are compared t o assess the importance of quantum effects in the reaction dynamics. (C) 19 99 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(99)01207- 6].