The 6Hankel asymptotic approximation for the uniform description of rainbows and glories in the angular scattering of state-to-state chemical reactions: derivation, properties and applications

This paper considers the asymptotic (semiclassical) analysis of a forward glory and a rainbow in the differential cross section (DCS) of a state-to-state chemical reaction, whose scattering amplitude is given by a Legendre partial wave series (PWS). A recent paper by C. Xiahou, J. N. L. Connor and D. H. Zhang [Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2011, 13, 12981] stated without proof a new asymptotic formula for the scattering amplitude, which is uniform for a glory and a rainbow in the DCS. The new formula was designated “6Hankel” because it involves six Hankel functions. This paper makes three contributions: (1) we provide a detailed derivation of the 6Hankel approximation. This is done by first generalizing a method described by G. F. Carrier [J. Fluid Mech., 1966, 24, 641] for the uniform asymptotic evaluation of an oscillating integral with two real coalescing stationary phase points, which results in the “2Hankel” approximation (it contains two Hankel functions). Application of the 2Hankel approximation to the PWS results in the 6Hankel approximation for the scattering amplitude. We also test the accuracy of the 2Hankel approximation when it is used to evaluate three oscillating integrals of the cuspoid type. (2) We investigate the properties of the 6Hankel approximation. In particular, it is shown that for angles close to the forward direction, the 6Hankel approximation reduces to the “semiclassical transitional approximation” for glory scattering derived earlier. For scattering close to the rainbow angle, the 6Hankel approximation reduces to the “transitional Airy approximation”, also derived earlier. (3) Using a J-shifted Eckart parameterization for the scattering matrix, we investigate the accuracy of the 6Hankel approximation for a DCS. We also compare with angular scattering results from the “uniform Bessel”, “uniform Airy” and other semiclassical approximations.