For the multichannel Schrödinger equations which arise in the quantum mechanical close coupling treatment of atomic collisions involving fine structure effects, alternative representations are developed by angular momentum algebra. The various representations are closely related to Hund’s coupling schemes for rotating diatomic molecules. Matrix elements for the electrostatic interaction and for the orthogonal transformations which connect the various representations, are given explicitly for the case when only one atom has internal angular momenta and follows LS coupling. The limit of large angular momenta, of interest under semiclassical conditions, is also considered. Some examples of applications to P atom collisions are discussed.

Some results on hyperspherical coordinates and harmonics for the representation of the manybody problem are presented, extensive use being made of the method of trees. Properties of these trees are examined: a lemma on the simplification of trees possessing a particular symmetry is proven, and used to discuss the internal coordinates for a system of three particles and the mapping of potential energy surfaces. A framework is provided for relating different couplings of particles by rotations on hyperspheres and alternative hyperangular parametrizations by orthogonal basis transformations. Extensions to nonzero angular momentum or to more than three particles are shown not to be trivial, and the possible role of developments of the tree method, leading to more general hyperspherical coordinates, is briefly considered.

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Carbon dioxide molecules can store and release tens of kcal/mol upon collisions, and such an energy transfer strongly influences the energy disposal and the chemical processes in gases under the extreme conditions typical of plasmas and hypersonic flows. Moreover, the energy transfer involving CO2 characterizes the global dynamics of the Earth-atmosphere system and the energy balance of other planetary atmospheres. Contemporary developments in kinetic modeling of gaseous mixtures are connected to progress in the description of the energy transfer, and, in particular, the attempts to include non-equilibrium effects require to consider state-specific energy exchanges. A systematic study of the state-to-state vibrational energy transfer in CO2 + CO2 collisions is the focus of the present work, aided by a theoretical and computational tool based on quasiclassical trajectory simulations and an accurate full-dimension model of the intermolecular interactions. In this model, the accuracy of the description of the intermolecular forces (that determine the probability of energy transfer in molecular collisions) is enhanced by explicit account of the specific effects of the distortion of the CO2 structure due to vibrations. Results show that these effects are important for the energy transfer probabilities. Moreover, the role of rotational and vibrational degrees of freedom is found to be dominant in the energy exchange, while the average contribution of translations, under the temperature and energy conditions considered, is negligible. Remarkable is the fact that the intramolecular energy transfer only involves stretching and bending, unless one of the colliding molecules has an initial symmetric stretching quantum number greater than a threshold value estimated to be equal to 7.