Quantum Dynamics of the ¹⁸O + ³⁶O<inf>2</inf> Collision Process

Abstract

We report full quantum cross sections and rate constants for the 18O + 36O2 → 36O2 + 18O collision process. This constitutes to the best of our knowledge the first dynamical study of the 18O18O18O system, with three identical 18O oxygen atoms. We emphasize the comparison with the 16O + 32O2 collision as this latter presents the exact same features as the one treated here, except the consistent change of mass for all three atoms. We find very similar behaviors in the cross sections, and we confirm that the rates are faster when three identical nuclei are involved. In particular, we cannot dynamically study this system with classical trajectory methods, and we have to include properly the indistinguishability of the three 18O nuclei; however, we note some slight differences with the 16O16O16O benchmark system, and we focus our analysis on their origin.