Quantum mechanical study of vibrational energy transfer in Ar-O3 collisions: Influence of symmetry

The vibrational energy transfer in Ar-O-3 collisions is investigated within the breathing sphere approximation. Ozone wave functions are calculated with a simplified potential energy surface and used in the close coupling scattering equations. Inelastic transition probabilities are determined for all bound states of O-3. Energy transfer is studied in one asymmetric, (OOO)-O-16-O-16-O-18, and two symmetric isotopomers, (OOO)-O-16-O-16-O-16 and (OOO)-O-16-O-18-O-16. Two measures of the energy transfer are considered: Microcanonical deactivation for a fixed collision energy and thermal vibrational relaxation described by the master equation at a fixed temperature. In either case, the energy transfer is symmetry independent near the dissociation threshold and the sensitivity to symmetry grows as the ozone energy decreases.