CALCULATION OF COLLISIONAL ENERGY-TRANSFER OF THERMAL CLUSTERS

We have studied the energy transfer between Mo clusters and the rare-g as atoms Ne, Ar and Xe. We have chosen these systems as non-trivial mo dels of the thermalization process of metal clusters in a background g as. The energy transfer and energy transfer rate for collisions of Mo clusters with rare gas atoms are computed as functions of relative col lision energy (gas temperature) and reduced mass. The dynamics of gas phase Mo clusters are simulated by molecular dynamics trajectories who se initial conditions are sampled from a distribution appropriate to t hermal collisions. The simulation shows that the energy transfer is se nsitive to the collision mass, and strongly coupled to the actual inte raction force, where evidence for multiple collision is shown. The ene rgy transfer rate, however, is dominated by collision frequency, i.e., the reduced collision mass.