Photofragmentation of the H_3 molecule, including Jahn-Teller coupling effects

Abstract

We have developed a theoretical method for interpretation of photoionization experiments with the H_3 molecule. In the present study we give a detailed description of the method, which combines multichannel quantum defect theory, the adiabatic hyperspherical approach, and the techniques of outgoing Siegert pseudostates. The present method accounts for vibrational and rotation excitations of the molecule, deals with all symmetry restrictions imposed by the geometry of the molecule, including vibrational, rotational, electronic and nuclear spin symmetries. The method was recently applied to treat dissociative recombination of the H_3^+ ion. Since H_3^+ dissociative recombination has been a controversial problem, the present study also allows us to test the method on the process of photoionization, which is understood better than dissociative recombination. Good agreement with two photoionization experiments is obtained.