Spin–orbit effects in the reaction of F(2P) with H2

Abstract
We report the first scattering calculations for the F+H2 reaction based on ab initio potential energy surfaces (PES's) and an exact treatment of spin-orbit and Coriolis coupling. The probability of reaction of F*(2P1/2) is less than 10% of that for F(2P3/2) and the overall features of the scattering are well represented by calculations on the lowest electronic PES. © 1998 American Institute of Physics