Photodissociation dynamics of lithium chloride: contribution of interferometric predissociation.

Continuum photoabsorption of lithium chloride (LiCl) was investigated using a coupled-channel time-dependent wave packet approach. Photodissociation cross sections for the production of ground-state Li and Cl atoms were computed up to temperatures of 1500 K for a thermal distribution of rotational levels. At such temperatures, LiCl is believed to be the primary Li-bearing gas in cool stellar atmospheres. Narrow Rydberg resonances in the total absorption spectrum are found to dominate the thermally averaged cross section due to the large density of Rydberg states in the predissociation gap. Comparison with measured photoabsorption cross sections, where available, is made.