Wiley Chemical Dynamics at Low Temperatures, Volume 88: 91 (Advances in Chemical Physics)

The first unified treatment of experimental and theoreticaladvances in low-temperature chemistry Chemical Dynamics at LowTemperatures is a landmark publication. For the first time, thecumulative results of twenty years of experimental and theoreticalresearch into low-temperature chemistry have been collected andpresented in a unified treatment. The result is a text/referencethat both offers an overview of the subject and contains sufficientdetail to guide practicing researchers toward fertile ground forfuture research. Topics covered include: * Developmental history * Formulation of general problems and the main approximations usedto solve them * Specific features of tunneling chemical dynamics * One-dimensional tunneling in the path integral formalism * Special problems of two- and multidimensional tunneling * An extended presentation of pertinent experimental results From the Inside Flap In the two decades since the discovery of elementary reactions at low temperatures, numerous specialized reviews of separate lines of research into these phenomena have emerged. A substantial body of experimental data has enabled the development of models that shed light on the multidimensional character of tunneling and the effects of non-tunneling intra- and inter-molecular vibrational modes. Theoretical work concerning similar ideas in the quantum transition state theory has been applied to gasphase reactions in the region below the energy threshold. Supersonic jet cooling and high-resolution spectroscopy have revealed multidimensional tunneling in isolated molecules and dimers. As a consequence of this rapid proliferation of research data, the need has never been greater for a survey of the entire field. Offering an examination of multidimensional tunneling and its manifestations in the various branches of chemical physics, Chemical Dynamics at Low Temperatures fulfills that need. It presents a comprehensive overview of the subject, including developmental history; formulation of general problems and the main approximations used to solve them; specific features of tunneling chemical dynamics; one-dimensional tunneling in the path integral formalism; special problems of two- and multidimensional tunneling; and an extended presentation of pertinent experimental results. The purpose of this book is to stimulate further research, as well as to provide a graduate level introduction to low-temperature chemistry. All topics are treated in sufficient detail for researchers to identify promising areas for new investigation. For chemical physicists there is an untamed wilderness of unsolved problems to which modern quantum mechanical methods can be applied. Experimentalists, meanwhile, will find deep analogies between seemingly unrelated tunneling phenomena being discovered by researchers working in a variety of fields. From the Back Cover The first unified treatment of experimental and theoretical advances in low-temperature chemistry Chemical Dynamics at Low Temperatures is a landmark publication. For the first time, the cumulative results of twenty years of experimental and theoretical research into low-temperature chemistry have been collected and presented in a unified treatment. The result is a text/reference that both offers an overview of the subject and contains sufficient detail to guide practicing researchers toward fertile ground for future research. Topics covered include: Developmental history Formulation of general problems and the main approximations used to solve them Specific features of tunneling chemical dynamics One-dimensional tunneling in the path integral formalism Special problems of two- and multidimensional tunneling An extended presentation of pertinent experimental results About the Author VICTOR A. BENDERSKII was born in 1938 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). He graduated from Moscow State University in 1959 with a degree in chemistry and earned a PhD from the Institute of Chemic