Influence of a Supercritical Electric Dipole Moment on the Photodetachment of C_{3}N

Threshold photodetachment spectroscopy of the molecular ion C_{3}N^{-} has been performed at both 16(1) and 295(2) K in a 22-pole ion trap. The 295(2) K spectrum shows a large increase in the cross section with an onset about 200 cm^{-1} below threshold, which is explained by significant vibrational excitation of the trapped ions at room temperature. This excitation disappears at cryogenic temperatures leading to an almost steplike onset of the cross section at threshold, which cannot be adequately described with a Wigner threshold law. Instead, we show that the model developed by O'Malley for photodetachment from neutrals with large permanent dipoles [Phys. Rev. 137, A1668 (1965)PHRVAO0031-899X10.1103/PhysRev.137.A1668] fits very well to the data. A high-resolution scan of the threshold region yields additional features, which we assign to the rotational P and R branches of an electronic transition to a dipole-bound state with ^{1}Σ^{+} symmetry. This state is found 2(1) cm^{-1} below threshold in very good agreement with a recent computational prediction. We furthermore refine the value of the electron affinity of C_{3}N to be 34 727(1) cm^{-1}.

Collision-driven state-changing efficiency of different buffer gases in cold traps: He(1S), Ar(1S) and p-H2(1Σ) on trapped CN-(1Σ).

We employ potential energy surfaces (PES) from ab initio quantum chemistry methods to describe the interaction of the CN-(1Σ) molecule, one of the small anions often studied at low temperatures, with other possible gases which can be employed as buffer in cold ion traps: the He and Ar atoms and the p-H2 molecule. These PESs are used to calculate from quantum multichannel dynamics the corresponding state-changing rate constants between the populated rotational states of the anion, the latter being in its electronic and vibrational ground states. The different cross sections for the collision-driven quenching and excitation processes at low temperatures are compared and further used to model CN- cooling (de-excitation) efficiency under different trap conditions. The interplay of potential coupling strength and mass-scaling effects is discussed to explain the differences of behaviour among the buffer gases. The advantages of being able to perform collisional cooling at higher trap temperatures when using Ar and p-H2 as buffer gases are also discussed.

Vibrational quenching of CN- in collisions with He and Ar.

The vibrational quenching cross sections and corresponding low-temperature rate constants for the ν = 1 and ν = 2 states of CN-(1Σ+) colliding with He and Ar atoms have been computed ab initio using new three-dimensional potential energy surfaces. Little work has been carried out so far on low-energy vibrationally inelastic collisions for anions with neutral atoms. The cross sections and rates calculated at energies and temperatures relevant for both ion traps and astrochemical modeling are found by the present calculations to be even smaller than those of the similar C2 -/He and C2 -/Ar systems, which are in turn of the order of those existing for the collisions involving neutral diatom-atom systems. The implications of our finding in the present case mainly focus on the possible role of small computed rate constants in the dynamics of molecular cooling and the evolution of astrochemical modeling networks.

Structural properties of possible interstellar valence anions of the series HCnN- (n = 3, 5, 7, 9).

In this contribution we investigate the structural properties of stable anions of small carbon clusters, with one nitrogen and one hydrogen atoms attached to the C-cluster, to surmise their possible existence in the Interstellar Medium (ISM). Many possible configurational (geometrical) isomers with positive vertical electron detachment values are presented, and arranged according to their relative energy. Specific attention is paid to the structures of the lowest-energy valence isomers, the chain-structures of HC7N- and HC9N- anions with quasilinear and linear geometry, respectively. They exhibit relatively large permanent dipole moments (2.697 and 5.034 Debye) and adiabatic electron affinities (AEAs) of 1.13 and 1.35 eV. Isomers of the HNCn- family and many branched structures are possible stable species viable for detection in the ISM.

Rotational state-changing collisions of C2H- and C2N- anions with He under interstellar and cold ion trap conditions: A computational comparison.

We present an extensive range of quantum calculations for the state-changing rotational dynamics involving two simple molecular anions that are expected to play some role in the evolutionary analysis of chemical networks in the interstellar environments, C2H- (X1Σ+) and C2N- (X3Σ-), but for which inelastic rates are only known for C2H-. The same systems are also of direct interest in modeling selective photo-detachment experiments in cold ion traps where the He atoms function as the chief buffer gas at the low trap temperatures. This study employs accurate, ab initio calculations of the interaction potential energy surfaces for these anions, treated as rigid rotors, and the He atom to obtain a wide range of state-changing quantum cross sections and rates at temperatures up to about 100 K. The results are analyzed and compared for the two systems to show differences and similarities between their rates of state-changing dynamics.

Threshold photodetachment spectroscopy of the astrochemical anion CN.

Threshold photodetachment spectroscopy has been performed on the molecular anion CN- at both 16(1) K and 295(2) K in a 22-pole ion trap and at 295(2) K from a pulsed ion beam. The spectra show a typical energy dependence of the detachment cross section yielding a determination of the electron affinity of CN to greater precision than has previously been known at 31 163(16) cm-1 [3.864(2) eV]. Allowed s-wave detachment is observed for CN-, but the dependence of the photodetachment cross section near the threshold is perturbed by the long-range interaction between the permanent dipole moment of CN and the outgoing electron. Furthermore, we observe a temperature dependence of the cross section near the threshold, which we attribute to a reduction of the effective permanent dipole due to higher rotational excitation at higher temperatures.

HCnN anions in the ISM: exploring their existence and new paths to anionic carbonitriles for n = 3, 5.

We have selected two neutral C-rich linear molecules, HC3N and HC5N, which are very abundant in the interstellar medium (ISM) to computationally investigate the stability of their anions and their possible existence in outer space, for which thus far there is no available evidence. Our present, ab initio structural studies strongly indicate that the neutral cyanopolyynes can have two types of stable anions by either forming slightly distorted non-linear structures of anionic Valence Bound States (VBSs), or linear more weakly bound dipole-bound states (DBSs) produced directly from the initial neutral linear configurations. Our present calculations further show that the stability of these anions increases with the number of C atoms in the chains. We carefully analyze possible physical causes for their lack of observation thus far: from the increased complexity of their rotational spectra with respect to those already observed, to their possible losses due to them entering the formation network of the C3N- and C5N- carbonitrile anions, which have been observed in the circumstellar envelopes and in the Titan atmosphere. We specifically suggest that de-hydrogenation reactions of the initial anions could take place by following either of two possible, well-known mechanisms: the fragmentation path usually ascribed to Dissociative Electron Attachment (DEA) processes or chemical recombination active in exothermic reactions with the H, N and O atoms present in the circumstellar envelopes. The results from such processes would be the loss of the stable anions of cyanopolyynes and the additional formation of their anionic carbonitriles.

Associative detachment (AD) paths for H and CN- in the gas-phase: astrophysical implications.

The direct dynamical paths leading to Associative Detachment (AD) in the gas-phase, and specifically in the low-temperature regions of the Dark Molecular Clouds (DMC) in the ISM, or in cold trap laboratory experiments, are investigated with quantum chemical methods by using a high-level multi-reference Configuration Interaction (CI) approach that employs single and double excitations plus Davidson perturbative correction [MRSDCI(Q)] and the d-aug-cc-pV5Z basis set. The potential energy curves for H + CN- are constructed for different directions of the H partner approaching the CN- anion within the framework of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. The present calculations found that the AD energetics at low temperature becomes favorable only along a selected range of approaching directions, thus showing that there is a preferred path of forming HCN at low temperatures, while that of forming its HNC isomer is found to be energetically forbidden. Given the existence in the ISM of different HCN/HNC ratios in different environments, we discuss the implications of our findings for selective formation of either isomer in the low-temperature conditions of the molecular cloud cores.

NH2- in a cold ion trap with He buffer gas: Ab initio quantum modeling of the interaction potential and of state-changing multichannel dynamics.

We present an extensive range of accurate ab initio calculations, which map in detail the spatial electronic potential energy surface that describes the interaction between the molecular anion NH2- (1A1) in its ground electronic state and the He atom. The time-independent close-coupling method is employed to generate the corresponding rotationally inelastic cross sections, and then the state-changing rates over a range of temperatures from 10 to 30 K, which is expected to realistically represent the experimental trapping conditions for this ion in a radio frequency ion trap filled with helium buffer gas. The overall evolutionary kinetics of the rotational level population involving the molecular anion in the cold trap is also modelled during a photodetachment experiment and analyzed using the computed rates. The present results clearly indicate the possibility of selectively detecting differences in behavior between the ortho- and para-anions undergoing photodetachment in the trap.

Quantum Features of Anionic Species He*⁻ and He2*⁻ in Small He(N) Clusters.

We present variational calculations on systems containing a few boson helium atoms attached to electronically excited atomic and molecular helium anions He*⁻ and He2*⁻ and characterize their structures and energetics. Previously reported high-level ab initio results [Huber, S. E.; Mauracher, A. Mol. Phys. 2014, 112, 794] to describe the interactions between excited (metastable) anions and a neutral He atom have been employed. For the case of the atomic species He*⁻, the corresponding interaction with He suggests large anharmonicity effects due to the presence of a deep well of ∼17,500 cm⁻¹ at short distances, together with a more external shallow secondary well of ∼4 cm⁻¹, both supporting bound levels. Moreover, when a sum of pairwise interactions is assumed to describe the full PES corresponding to the presence of several neutral He atoms, geometrical constraints already predict the complete solvation of the anionic impurity by six helium atoms, giving rise to a bipyramidal structure. In turn, for the anisotropic weak interaction He-He2*⁻, where the anionic dimer is considered as a rigid rotor, the obtained structures show the tendency of the helium atoms to pack themselves together and largely far away from the dopant, thereby confirming the heliophobic character of He2*⁻.

A configurational study of helium clusters doped with He(∗-) and He2(∗-).

Helium clusters doped with electronically excited atomic and molecular helium anions He(∗-) and He2(∗-) at T = 0.4 K are studied by means of path integral Monte Carlo calculations. Geometry and energetics of the systems with up to 32 solvating He atoms are characterised. The interactions between the anions and the neutral He atoms have been described by fitting previously reported ab initio points to analytical expressions. The HeN-He(∗-) clusters with N > 6 display a structure defined by a bipyramid which completely solvates the atomic anion, whereas the rest of surrounding He atoms form a dimple around that initial cage. On the contrary, the structures observed for the HeN-He2(∗-) clusters clearly show the dopant located outside the helium droplet, thereby confirming the heliophobic character of He2(∗-).

Quantum features of a barely bound molecular dopant: Cs2(3Σu) in bosonic helium droplets of variable size.

We present in this work the study of small (4)He(N)-Cs(2)((3)Σ(u)) aggregates (2 ≤ N ≤ 30) through combined variational, diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC), and path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) calculations. The full surface is modeled as an addition of He-Cs(2) interactions and He-He potentials. Given the negligible strength and large range of the He-Cs(2) interaction as compared with the one for He-He, a propensity of the helium atoms to pack themselves together, leaving outside the molecular dopant is to be expected. DMC calculations determine the onset of helium gathering at N = 3. To analyze energetic and structural properties as a function of N, PIMC calculations with no bosonic exchange, i.e., Boltzmann statistics, at low temperatures are carried out. At T = 0.1 K, although acceptable one-particle He-Cs(2) distributions are obtained, two-particle He-He distributions are not well described, indicating that the proper symmetry should be taken into account. PIMC distributions at T = 1 K already compare well with DMC ones and show minor exchange effects, although binding energies are still far from having converged in terms of the number of quantum beads. As N increases, the He-He PIMC pair correlation function shows a clear tendency to coincide with the experimental boson-liquid helium one at that temperature. It supports the picture of a helium droplet which carries the molecular impurity on its surface, as found earlier for other triplet dimers.

Structuring a quantum solvent around a weakly bound dopant: the He-Cs2(3Sigma(u)) complex.

The structure and energetics of (3,4)HeCs(2)((3)Sigma(u)) molecules are analyzed from first principles. Fixing the cesium dimer at its equilibrium distance, the electronic structure was determined through ab initio methods at the CCSD(T) level of theory using a large basis set to compute the interaction energies. At the T-shaped geometry, there is a shallow well with a depth of approximately 2 cm(-1) placed at R approximately 6.75 A, R being the distance from the center of mass of Cs(2) to He. That depth gradually decreases to approximately 0.75 cm(-1), while R increases to about 11.5 A at linear arrangements. A simple model of adding atom-atom Lennard-Jones potentials with well-depth and equilibrium distance parameters depending on the angular orientation was found to accurately reproduce the ab initio points. Using this analytical form, variational calculations at zero total angular momentum are performed, predicting a single bound level at approximately -0.106 (approximately -0.042) cm(-1) for the boson (fermion) species. Further calculations using Quantum Monte Carlo methods are carried out and found to be in good agreement with the variational ones. On the basis of the present results, such analytical expression could in turn be used to describe the structure and binding of larger complexes and therefore opens the possibility to further studies involving such aggregates.

Energetics and structures of charged helium clusters: comparing stabilities of dimer and trimer cationic cores.

We present accurate ab initio calculations of the most stable structures of He(n)(+) clusters in order to determine the more likely ionic core arrangements existing after reaching structural equilibrium of the clusters. Two potential energy surfaces are presented: one for the He(2)(+) and the other with the He(3)(+) linear ion, both interacting with one He atom. The two computed potentials are in turn employed within a classical structure optimization where the overall interaction forces are obtained within the sum-of-potentials approximation described in the main text. Because of the presence of many-body effects within the ionic core, we find that the arrangements with He(3)(+) as a core turn out to be energetically preferred, leading to the formation of He(3)(+)(He)(n-3) stable aggregates. Nanoscopic considerations about the relative stability of clusters with the two different cores are shown to give us new information on the dynamical processes observed in the impact ionization experiments of pure helium clusters and the importance of pre-equilibrium evaporation of the ionic dimers in the ionized clusters.

Structuring molecular hydrogen around ionic dopants: Li(+) cations in small pH(2) clusters.

The formation of clusters of molecular hydrogen around a cationic charge, the Li(+) ion, is modelled by treating the global interaction as a sum of potentials where the Li(+)-H(2) forces come from a full anisotropic potential energy surface produced earlier in our group. The H(2)-H(2) interaction is taken from the literature and treated as a spherical potential between structureless bosonic solvent molecules of para-H(2) (pH(2)). The optimization of geometries and the minimum energy values are obtained via a genetic algorithm treatment whose structures are modified at the end to include a modelling of quantum effects. The results of hydrogen clustering around the cationic dopant indicate the presence of marked shell structures which are initially completed by the octahedral arrangement of the first six solvent partners, while the next shells are dominated by the mainly dispersive interaction among pH(2) molecules and show, in larger clusters, less structured solvent collocations around the ionic impurity.

Ring-breaking electron attachment to uracil: following bond dissociations via evolving resonances.

Calculations are carried out at various distinct energies to obtain both elastic cross sections and S-matrix resonance indicators (poles) from a quantum treatment of the electron scattering from gas-phase uracil. The low-energy region confirms the presence of pi(*) resonances as revealed by earlier calculations and experiments which are compared with the present findings. They turn out to be little affected by bond deformation, while the transient negative ions (TNIs) associated with sigma(*) resonances in the higher energy region ( approximately 8 eV) indeed show that ring deformations which allow vibrational redistribution of the excess electron energy into the molecular target strongly affect these shape resonances: They therefore evolve along different dissociative pathways and stabilize different fragment anions. The calculations further show that the occurrence of conical intersections between sigma(*) and pi(*)-type potential energy surfaces (real parts) is a very likely mechanism responsible for energy transfers between different TNIs. The excess electron wavefunctions for such scattering states, once mapped over the molecular space, provide nanoscopic reasons for the selective breaking of different bonds in the ring region.

Microsolvation of an ionic dopant in small (4)He clusters: OH(+)((3)sigma)((4)He)(N) via genetic algorithm optimizations.

The optimized spatial structures of the small clusters (with N up to 33) formed by an increasing number of (4)He atoms, which act as a microsolvent surrounding the OH(+) ionic molecular dopant, are obtained using a sum-of-potentials scheme corrected by three-body (3B) effects. The most stable structures are generated using the type of genetic algorithm described herein, and the sequential formation of regular shell structures is analyzed in detail. Possible quantum corrections for both the solvent distributions and the stable energetics are analyzed and discussed.

Selective bond breaking in beta-D-ribose by gas-phase electron attachment around 8 eV.

Electron attachment experiments are carried out on the beta-d-ribose molecule in the gas phase for the energy region around 8 eV, and clear fragmentation products are observed for different mass values. A computational analysis of the relevant dynamics is also carried out for the beta-d-ribose in both the furanosic and pyranosic form as gaseous targets around that energy range. The quantum scattering attributes obtained from the calculations reveal in both systems the presence of transient negative ions (TNIs). An analysis of the spatial features of the excess resonant electron, together with the computation and characterization of the target molecular normal modes, suggests possible break-up pathways of the initial, metastable molecular species.

Isotopic replacement in ionic systems: the 4He2+ + 3He-->3He 4He+ + 4He reaction.

Full quantum dynamics calculations have been carried out for the ionic reaction (4)He(2) (+)+(3)He and state-to-state reactive probabilities have been obtained using both time-dependent and time-independent approaches. An accurate ab initio potential-energy surface has been employed for the present quantum dynamics and the two sets of results are shown to be in agreement with each other. The results for zero total angular momentum suggest a marked presence of atom exchange (isotopic replacement) reaction with probabilities as high as 60%. The reaction probabilities are only weakly dependent on the initial vibrational state of the reactants, while they are slightly more sensitive to the degree of rotational excitation. A brief discussion of the results for selected higher total angular momentum values is also presented, while the l-shifting approximation [S. K. Gray et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 1, 1141 (1999)] has been used to provide estimates of the total reaction rates for the title process. Such rates are found to be large enough to possibly become experimentally accessible.