In this project in the Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Charles Parmenter of Indiana University will study crossed-beam bimolecular energy transfer, intramolecular vibrational redistribution, and vibrational predissociation in van der Waals molecules. The aim is to reveal the state-resolved characteristics of vibrational energy flow in polyatomic molecules, both intramolecular and collisional. There will be a synergism between this experimental work and theoretical treatments by collaborating theoretical chemists. %%% When excess energy is deposited into vibrational modes of polyatomic molecules, that is, those composed of several atoms, that energy can dissipate internally by redistributing among the other vibrations in the molecule, or it may be given up to other atoms or molecules with which the excited molecule collides. This project aims at studying the ways and time scales on which such excess vibrational energy flows out of the initially excited parts of a molecule.
