Signatures of reactive resonance: three case studies

Recent advances in the study of short-lived reactive resonances are reviewed. Special emphasis is given to addressing the question of how reactive resonances might be observed in molecular beam scattering experiments. Three case studies are presented for simple triatomic systems that are believed to exhibit resonance phenomena: F + HD --> D + HF, F + H-2 --> H + HF, and H + HD --> D + H-2. It is seen that reactive resonances do strongly influence collision observables, but in a different way for each case. At this stage, there does not appear to be a unique resonance signature that can be applied to all reactions.