Complex L[sup 2] calculation of the variation of resonance widths of HOCl with total angular momentum

Complex L[sup 2] calculations of the variation of the resonance width of HOCl(6[nu][sub OH])[r arrow]Cl+OH with total angular momentum, [ital J], are reported, using a recently developed, accurate [ital ab initio] potential energy surface [S. Skokov, J. M. Bowman, and K. A. Peterson, J. Chem. Phys. [bold 109], 2662 (1998)]. The calculations are carried out using the adiabatic rotation approximation for the overall rotation and a truncation/recoupling method for the vibrational states. An [ital ab initio] calculation of the [ital J] and [ital K] dependence of the intensity of the absorption spectrum of the [ital Q] branch in the neighborhood of the 2[nu][sub OH][r arrow]6[nu][sub OH] transition is presented, and compared to results of recent experiments of Rizzo and co-workers. The variation of the resonance width of the 6,0,0 and the 3,8,0 states with [ital J] and [ital K] is presented, and comparisons with recent double-resonance experiments of the Rizzo and Sinha groups for the 6,0,0 state show encouraging qualitative agreement. The fluctuations of the dissociation rate with [ital J] is shown to be due to rotation-induced coupling of the 6[nu][sub OH] state to a dense set of highly excited OCl stretch states. A simple model describing the coupling of 6[nu][sub OH] with background states, using a coupling constant of 0.05 cm[sup [minus]1] is shown to give a qualitatively correct picture of the fluctuation of the resonance width with [ital J]. Finally, the energies of many nonoverlapping resonances, some of which are assigned, for J=18 and K=0 are presented and compared to Rice[endash]Ramsperger[endash]Kassel[endash]Marcus (RRKM) theory. It is found that due to slow, rate limiting, intramolecular vibrational relaxation the RRKM overestimates the average dissociation rate by an order of magnitude. [copyright] [ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.]