THEORETICAL-STUDIES OF ENERGY-TRANSFER AND REACTION IN H+H2O AND H+D2O COLLISIONS

We present the results of a quasiclassical trajectory study of vibration-rotation excitation and reaction in H + H2O(000) and H + D2O(000) collisions, including detailed comparisons with experiment. All calculations have used a semiempirical potential surface due to Schatz and Elgersma, and the H2O initial and final states were numerically determined by solving for the good action variables associated with vibrational motions. Our studies of collisional excitation emphasize comparisons with recent experiments by Lovejoy, Goldfarb, and Leone [J. Chem. Phys. 96, 7180 (1992)] in which fast hydrogen atoms produce vibrationally and rotationally excited water. As in the experiments, we find a propensity for the production of rotational states in which the rotational angular momentum vector is predominantly aligned perpendicular to the water molecule plane (c-axis excitation). This propensity is found for all excited vibrational states of H2O, but it is significantly stronger in the experiments [where only the (001) state was studied] than in the calculations. An analysis of trajectory motions indicates that the primary excitation mechanism for states which show the c-axis propensity involves a nearly planar collision in which the incoming H impulsively strikes one of the water hydrogens. Failed reactive collisions associated with either abstraction or exchange as well as reactive exchange collisions give the same propensity but they are not the dominant mechanism for producing aligned water. In studies of the reaction H + D2O-->OD + HD, we analyze product vibrational and rotational state distributions in detail, making comparison with recent studies of Adelman, Filseth, and Zare [preceding paper, J. Chem. Phys. 98, 4636 (1993)] as well as earlier work. The product HD energy partitioning is found to be in excellent average agreement with experiment, with the HD receiving much more of the available energy than does OD. There are, however, differences in some of the HD rotational distributions, with the experiment showing a much stronger inverse correlation between HD rotational and vibrational excitation than is found in the calculations.