Dynamical tunnelling in molecules: quantum routes to energy flow
Abstract
Dynamical tunnelling, introduced in the molecular context, is more than two decades old and refers to phenomena that are classically forbidden but allowed by quantum mechanics. The barriers for dynamical tunnelling, however, can arise in the momentum or more generally in the full phase space of the system. On the other hand the phenomenon of intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution (IVR) has occupied a central place in the field of chemical physics for a much longer period of time. Despite significant progress in understanding IVR a priori prediction of the pathways and rates is still a difficult task. Although the two phenomena seem to be unrelated several studies indicate that dynamical tunnelling, in terms of its mechanism and timescales, can have important implications for IVR. It is natural to associate dynamical tunnelling with a purely quantum mechanism of IVR. Examples include the observation of local mode doublets, clustering of rotational energy levels, and extremely narrow vibrational features in high-resolution molecular spectra. Many researchers have demonstrated the usefulness of a phase space perspective towards understanding the mechanism of IVR. Interestingly dynamical tunnelling is also strongly influenced by the nature of the underlying classical phase space. Recent studies show that chaos and nonlinear resonances in the phase space can enhance or suppress dynamical tunnelling by many orders of magnitude. Is it then possible that both the classical…
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