Femtochemistry of the Reaction of IHgI: Theory Versus Experiment

Recently, the rapid dissociation dynamics of mercury diiodide has been studied by femtosecond transition-state spectroscopy (FTS). Such experiments provide a real-time picture of wave packet motions in two dissociation channels associated with the iodine atomic product in its ground and spin-orbit excited states. We present here a two-dimensional quantum mechanical treatment of the FTS experiment, which allows us to discuss the salient features of the wave packet motion and product state distribution. Possible refinements of the approach and their significance are also discussed.