This award will support collaborative research between Professor James T. Hynes, University of Colorado, Boulder, and Dr. Mark S. Child, Theoretical Chemistry Department, Oxford University. These researchers will investigate the mechanisms of energy flow within molecules that are derived from thermal vibrations, and will construct a theory for energy flow between vibrational modes induced by molecular rotation; they will study in particular energy flow in and resultant dissociation of hydrogen peroxide. Dr. Hynes has considerable experience in the theory of chemical reactions, but this study of energy coupling by rotational modes goes beyond earlier studies which have involved coupling only by vibrational potential or kinetic energy. The U.S. investigator has extensive experience in the theoretical study of chemical dissociations, while his U.K. collaborator has complementary expertise in the analysis of intra-molecular dynamics and in particular of vibrational and rotational modes of energy storage. The researchers will pursue their theoretical studies using both analytic and computer methods, and classical and quantum approaches. Significant benefits may eventually be obtained for the field of laser physics, where proper understanding of phenomena occurring at the molecular scale is lacking.
