Infinite order sudden approximation for reactive scattering. I. Basic l-labeled formulation

An infinite order sudden (IOS) treatment of reactive scattering is developed taking into account recent results of nonreactive collision studies on the importance of l-labeling, nonconservation of helicity, and transformation properties of sudden approximation wave functions. The present IOS method should be sufficiently simple to apply to a number of chemically interesting atom–diatom reactions. Such applications are currently in progress.