Binary contraction method for the construction of time-dependent dividing surfaces in driven chemical reactions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new binary contraction method for constructing time-dependent dividing surfaces in driven chemical reactions, avoiding complex phase space calculations and improving efficiency in high-dimensional systems.

Contribution

The authors propose a novel binary contraction approach that constructs locally recrossing-free dividing surfaces using only simple dynamical properties near the energy barrier.

Findings

Efficient construction of dividing surfaces without auxiliary phase space functions

Applicable to high-dimensional, time-dependent reactive systems

Reduces computational cost compared to Lagrangian descriptor methods

Abstract

Transition state theory formally provides a simplifying approach for determining chemical reaction rates and pathways. Given an underlying potential energy surface for a reactive system, one can determine the dividing surface in phase space which separates reactant and product regions, and thereby also these regions. This is often a difficult task, and it is especially demanding for high-dimensional time-dependent systems or when a non-local dividing surface is required. Recently, approaches relying on Lagrangian descriptors have been successful at resolving the dividing surface in some of these challenging cases, but this method can also be computationally expensive due to the necessity of integrating the corresponding phase space function. In this paper, we present an alternative method by which time-dependent, locally recrossing-free dividing surfaces can be constructed without the calculation of any auxiliary phase space function, but only from simple dynamical properties close to the energy barrier.