A crossed molecular beams study of the O(³P)+H₂ reaction: Comparison of excitation function with accurate quantum reactive scattering calculations

The excitation function for the reaction, O(³P)+H₂→OH+H, was studied with accurate quantum wave packet calculations, and the theoretical excitation function was compared with an experimental relative excitation function obtained from a crossed beams experiment employing a novel hyperthermal O-atom beam source. Results lead to the conclusion that the detected OH signal is the result of O(³P) reacting with H₂. Further quasiclassical trajectory (QCT) calculations yielded the excitation function for the reaction, O(¹D)+H₂→OH+H, and allow an upper limit of 1.0 percent to be placed on the fraction of O atoms in the beam that are in the excited O(¹D) state.