Dissociating H₂⁺(²Σg⁺,JM=00) ion as an exploding quantum bubble

J Phys Chem A. 2015 Mar 26;119(12):2895-901. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpca.5b00907. Epub 2015 Mar 18.

Abstract

The nuclear and electronic probability and flux densities for a vibrating and dissociating H2(+) molecular ion in the electronic and rotational ground state (corresponding to the quantum numbers ²Σ(g)⁺,JM=00) are calculated. As a consequence of the isotropy of the scenario, the vibrating H2(+) appears as a pulsating quantum bubble, while the dissociating H2(+) appears as an exploding quantum bubble. The dissociating part is represented by a discretization of the continuum through use of £2 integrable B-spline basis set. It is shown that the vibrating part (the pulsating quantum bubble) interferes with the dissociating part (the exploding quantum bubble) and that the interference is much more noticeable in the probability density than in the flux density.