Chinese Journal of Chemical Physics 32, 167 (2019)
Influence of thermal radiation on hot cluster decay rates and abundances
Klavs Hansena,b,* and P. Ferraric
aCenter for Joint Quantum Studies and Department of Physics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
bDepartment of Physics, Gothenburg University, Gothenburg 41296, Sweden
cLaboratory of Solid State Physics and Magnetism, KU Leuven, Leuven 3001, Belgium
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: klavshansen@tju.edu.cn
Abstract
The influence of radiative cooling on the unimolecular decay rates of free, hot clusters and molecules with unspecified excitation energies is quantified. Two different regimes, defined by the magnitude of the energy of the photons emitted, are identified and the boundary between them is given. The boundary is determined in terms of the photon emission rate constants and thermal properties of the particles. Also the abundance spectra are calculated for the continuous cooling case, corresponding to small photon energies. The two regimes correspond to continuous cooling and single photon quenching of the unimolecular decay. The radiative effect can be parametrized by a redefinition of the time each individual cluster has available to undergo evaporation, expressed by an effective radiative time constant.
Key words: Clusters, Thermal radiation, Abundances, Decay rates
