EFFECT OF ROVIBRATIONAL COUPLING ON THE DYNAMICS OF IONIC SYSTEMS - THE KR-O-2(+) CASE

Various quantum decoupling and semiclassical methods are used to calcu late cross sections for rotational and rovibrational transitions in O2 + colliding with Kr. A general analysis of time scales for rotational arid vibrational excitations and of coupling strengths for the corresp onding potentials is used to review the standard decoupling methods th at treat separately vibrations and rotations in atom-molecule collisio ns. When such decoupling is applied to strongly interacting ionic syst ems and to heavy particles, it is found to fail rather dramatically an d to be brought back to reliable values only when fully coupled rovibr ational equations are used to treat the dynamics.