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FORMATION OF EXCITED H₃O STATES BY CHARGE TRANSFER FROM Cs.

STANISLAV A. DOLGIKH, ANNA I. KRYLOV, Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90007.

Charge transfer (CT) probability between Cs and H₃O⁺ was studied. In the experiment a Rydberg type H₃O molecule is formed in electronically excited state after CT from Cs, following by the dissociation to H₂O+H. However it is not clear which excited state is a precursor of the dissociation. Electronic structure of H₃O molecule was investigated by ab initio methods. Couplings between initial and target states were calculated, and charge transfer probabilities were estimated. Calculations show that 4s Rydberg state of H₃O molecule is the most likely state to be populated in the experiment.