Spin-orbit mechanism of predissociation in the Wulf band of ozone

摘要

Previously calculated resonance widths of the ground vibrational levels in the electronic states 1 ~3A" (~3A_2) and 1 ~3A' (~3B_2),which belong to the Wulf band system of ozone,are significantly smaller than observed experimentally.We demonstrate that predissociation is drastically enhanced by spin-orbit coupling between 1 ~3A"/X ~1A' and 1 ~3A'/1 ~3A".Multistate quantum mechanical calculations using ab initio spin-orbit coupling matrix elements give linewidths of optically bright components of the right order of magnitude.