A MULTICHANNEL QUANTUM DEFECT APPROACH TO MOLECULAR DISSOCIATION

Abstract

Multichannel quantum defect theory has had considerable success in applications to atomic spectroscopy, where the potentials are coulombic. It is possible to develop a similar theory for molecules, where the long range potentials are noncoulombic. The scattering wavefunction above a molecular dissociation threshold can be analytically continued below the threshold to describe the bound states. Once a reference Hamiltonian is chosen, a simple analytic theory can be developed which relates the elastic and inelastic scattering above threshold and the level shifts and predissociation widths below threshold. The analytic theory will be illustrated by comparison to close coupling calculations on several curve crossing models.