REACTIVE SCATTERING OF HIGHLY VIBRATIONALLY EXCITED OXYGEN MOLECULES - OZONE FORMATION

A new ab initio potential energy surface based on an internally contra cted multireference configuration-interaction wave function is constru cted for the O-2(X (3) Sigma(g)(-), upsilon)+O-2(X (3) Sigma(g)(-), up silon=0)-->O-3(X (1)A(1))+O(P-3) reaction with upsilon>20. The vibrati onal state-to-state reaction probabilities are calculated with a time independent reactive scattering method. The state selected reactive ra te constants calculated with 2D reduced dimensionality theory are very small, suggesting that the reaction of ozone formation is not signifi cant in the O-2(X (3) Sigma(g)(-), upsilon)+O-2(X (3) Sigma(g)(-), ups ilon=0) collision. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606 (98)00106-8].