Theory of translational-vibrational energy transfer for reactive collisions

A quantum mechanical theory for polyatomic molecules undergoing bimolecular reactions is presented which allows prediction of the vibrational excitation of the products as a function of (a) the incident translational energy, (b) the curvature of the reaction path, (c) the frequency changes for degrees of freedom perpendicular to the reaction coordinate, and (d) the position of the saddle point of the potential hypersurface.