Geometric phase effects in H3 predissociation

We model the predissociation of H-3 in the electronic state corresponding to the upper sheet of the conically intersecting 1 (2)A(')and 2 (2)A(') states, and we show that product-state rovibrational distributions are strongly influenced by the geometric phase. Similarly, the differences in the product-state energy distributions in recent three-body dissociation experiments for the 2s,(2)A(1)(') and 2p,(2)A(2)('') states of H-3 are shown to result from the presence of the geometric phase in this system, and thus provide experimental evidence of the influence of this phase in a molecular dynamical process.