Normally, we imagine a chemical reaction occurring by direct passage over a transition state barrier. Reactive resonances occur when the dynamics become trapped near the transition state. These reactive complexes often have lifetimes of less than 100 fs. The existence of reactive resonances can have a profound effect on the outcome of a reaction, such as the product state and angular distribution and even the thermal rate. Unfortunately, the precise signature of reactive resonances that one observes seems to vary widely from reaction to reaction. Our work is aimed at a detailed study of reactive resonances with the objective of predicting their influence on reaction observables.
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