Theoretical study of rotational fine structure in radiationless transitions

In the previous paper, it is shown that, at least for the case of formaldehyde, individually resolved rovibronic levels show a systematic dependence on J and K. Here a general theory is evolved which includes the effects of rotational energy gap, vibration–rotation coupling, and Coriolis effects on radiationless transitions. This general theory in contrast to existing pessimism, predicts a clear systematic variation of the radiationless rate for formaldehyde, in reasonable agreement with the experiment. This shows that these variations are the results of a general effect and not due to particular unsystematic resonances in this molecule. Hence, it is felt that this constitutes an interesting tiepoint between high-resolution jet measurements and a successful quantitative theory of a radiationless transition.