Introduction to the Theory of Atomic and Molecular Collisions

Part 1 Introduction to scattering theory: the crossed beam experiment; waves and particles; trajectories, wave packets and stationary states; semi-classical theory; laboratory and centre of mass coordinates; summary of systems to be examined. Part 2 Elastic scattering: classical trajectories for the central force problem; collision cross-sections; quantum scattering by a central force; a semi-classical view of elastic scattering; comparison of classical, semi-classical and quantum cross-sections; the inversion problem. Part 3 Inelastic collisions: the classical treatment of atom-diatomic molecule; numerical integration of trajectories and action-angle variables; the multi-channel equations; quantum treatment of collinear atom-diatomic molecule collisions; the semi-classical approach to inelastic collisions; approximate solutions of the coupled channel equations. Part 4 Rotationally inelastic collisions: classical rotational energy transfer; classical trajectories for reactions; potential energy functions and reaction cross-sections; quantum theory of reactive scattering; statistical theories. Part 6 Electronic transitions: beyond the Born-Oppenheimer approximation; atom-atom collisions; classical trajectory methods. Part 7 Scattering from surfaces: atomm-rigid surfaces scattering; more complicated problems. Appendices: the JWKB approximation; the partial wave expansion; jost functions; numerical methods; effective impact parameter for a three-dimensional surface; Hamilton's equations for the A+BC classical trajectory.