Temperature dependence of the charge-linear dipole capture rate constant Original Research Article

The effect of different molecular parameters on the temperature dependence of the adiabatic charge-dipole capture rate constant is examined. Generally, such a rate constant depends on three dimensionless parameters. The relationship is so involved that two-parametric interpolation formulae developed by Troe are not always valid. Troeʹs formulae work perfectly well for the systems that feature large enough values for the parameter ξ. Most physically realistic ion-dipole captures belong to this class. However, thermal electron-dipole captures feature small ξ; dynamics is, consequently, non-adiabatic, and the low-temperature limit to the capture rate is not observed. Two-parametric interpolation overestimates the exact value under such conditions.