UNIFORM WKB THEORY OF MULTICHANNEL PREDISSOCIATION AND INELASTIC-SCATTERING

In this paper the uniform WKB theory is applied to predissociations of N curve crossing systems as an extension of the study we made in a previous paper. We have obtained transition amplitudes (S-matrix elements) explicitly for three-state and N-state problems in terms of the transition factors and phase integrals used previously in our study of two-state problems. The expressions obtained in the local pairwise coupling approximation are extremely simple, physically transparent, and easy to compute. Within the framework of this model we have obtained the resonance characteristics for predissociative N-curve crossing problems. The level width formula is given in terms of the transition factors χi and is new. The transition amplitudes for the corresponding inelastic scattering problems were also derived. © 1979 American Institute of Physics.