Chemical Reaction Dynamics

4 Lectures. Coulson Summer School, 2008.

Lecture Synopsis

1. Introduction


2. Quantum Scattering Theory
• Free particle eigenstates.
• Scattering eigenstates.
• Flux and unitarity.
• The scattering Green's function.
• Formal scattering theory.


3. Chemical Reaction Rate Theory
• The thermal rate coefficient.
• Miller's trace formula.
• A simpler projection operator.
• Side-side, flux-side and flux-flux correlation functions.


4. The Classical Limit
• Classical partition functions.
• Classical correlation functions.
• Classical transition state theory.
• Quantum transition state theory?


5. Further Reading


6. Appendices
• The Dirac delta function.
• The Heisenberg picture.
• Liouville's theorem.

Lecture Notes

1. Lecture notes and exercises. [PDF (225k)].