Near-dissociation motions of a model X3 system

Abstract

High-angular-momentum (J= 40) in-plane motions of a classically chaotic pairwise additive Morse potential system roughly modelled on H⁺₃ are analysed in terms of the time evolution of hyperspherical coordinates (p, θ, ϕ). Recurrent, (2–3)× 10^–13 s, time segments, characterised by low-order frequency ratios between different components of the motion are identified and attributed to the existence of stable periodic orbits. Possible relevance to the low-order resolution structure in the predissociation spectrum of H⁺₃ is discussed.