Disagreement between theory and experiment grows with increasing rotational excitation of HD(v′, j′) product for the H + D2 reaction

The Photoloc technique has been employed to measure the state-resolved differential cross sections of the HD(v', j') product in the reaction H + D-2 over a wide range of collision energies and internal states. The experimental results were compared with fully dimensional, time-dependent quantum mechanical calculations on the refined Boothroyd-Keogh-Martin-Peterson potential energy surface. We find nearly perfect agreement between theory and experiment for HD(v', j') product states with low to medium rotational excitation, e.g., HD(v' = 1, j' = 3) at a collision energy, E-coll, of 1.72 eV, HD(v' = 1, j' = 3, 5) at E-coll = 1.97 eV, and HD(v' = 3, j' = 3) at E-coll = 1.97 eV. As the rotational angular momentum, j', of HD(v', j') increases, the agreement between theoretical predictions and experimental measurements worsens but not in a simple fashion. A moderate disagreement between theory and experiment has been found for HD(v' = 0, j' = 12) at E-coll = 1.76 eV and increased monotonically for HD(v' = 0, j' = 13) at E-coll = 1.74 eV, HD(v' = 0, j' = 14) at E-coll = 1.72 eV, and HD(v' = 0, j' = 15) at E-coll = 1.70 eV. Disagreement was not limited to vibrationless HD(v', j') product states: HD(v' = 1, j' = 12) at E-coll = 1.60 eV and HD(v' = 3, j' = 8, 10) at E-coll = 1.97 eV followed a similar trend. Theoretical calculations suggest more sideways/forward scattering than has been observed experimentally for high j' HD(v', j') states. The source of this discrepancy is presently unknown but might be the result of inaccuracy in the potential energy surface. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4793557]