Abstract
We present a simple physical explanation that measurements of the collision cross-sections with pure energy resolution can provide information on the reaction dynamics equivalent to that obtained using real-time methods of femtochemistry. For nuclear collisions, the method provides a time resolution of ∼ 10-21 sec. The method is sensitive enough to distinguish between the different scenarios of rotational dephasing for the highly-excited nuclear molecules, with strongly overlapping resonances, formed in 12C + 24Mg scattering. We find that the dephasing is much slower than the intra-molecular energy redistribution. This reveals unusual states - nonergodic molecules in continuum. Anomalously long dephasing times observed in highly-excited polyatomic molecules may reflect this new type of nonergodicity.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 273-280 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | International Journal of Modern Physics E |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Aug 2002 |