Abstract
Bifurcations of reaction channels are related to valley-ridge inflection points and it is examined what happens when these do not coincide with transition states. Under such conditions there result bifurcating regions. There exist a number of different prototypes for such regions which are discussed explicitly on the basis of the pertinent Taylor expansions. When bifurcations occur close enough to transition states then there result bifurcating transition regions. An example for a bifurcating transition region is exhibited which is obtained from a quantum mechanical ab initio calculation for the ring opening of cyclopropylidene to aliene. In general there exist no orthogonal trajectory patterns which could serve as simplified models for channel bifurcations.
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In this statement no distinction is made between a valley and a cirque, nor between a ridge and a cliff. See [10]
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The details of this surface are discussed in a forthcoming publication by P. Valtazanos and K. Ruedenberg
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Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by Iowa State University under Contract No. W-7405-ENG-82. This work was supported by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences
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Valtazanos, P., Ruedenberg, K. Bifurcations and transition states. Theoret. Chim. Acta 69, 281–307 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00527705
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00527705