Theoretical Investigation of Rate Coefficients and Dynamical Mechanisms for N + N + N Three-Body Recombination Based on Full-Dimensional Potential Energy Surfaces

Three-body recombination reactions, in which two particles form a bound state while a third one bounces off after the collision, play significant roles in many fields, such as cold and ultracold chemistry, astrochemistry, atmospheric physics, and plasma physics. In this work, the dynamics of the recombination reaction for the N₃ system over a wide temperature range (5000-20,000 K) are investigated in detail using the quasi-classical trajectory (QCT) method based on recently developed full-dimensional potential energy surfaces. The recombination products are N₂(X) + N(⁴S) in the 1⁴A″ state, N₂(A) + N(⁴S) in the 2⁴A″ state, and N₂(X) + N(²D) in both the 1²A″ and 2²A″ states. A three-body collision recombination model involving two sets of relative translational energies and collision parameters and a time-delay parameter is adopted in the QCT calculations. The recombination process occurs after forming an intermediate with a certain lifetime, which has a great influence on the recombination probability. Recombination processes occurring through a one-step three-body collision mechanism and two distinct two-step binary collision mechanisms are found in each state. And the two-step exchange mechanism is more dominant than the two-step transfer mechanism at higher temperatures. N₂(X) formed in all three related states is always the major recombination product in the temperature range from 5000 K to 20,000 K, with the relative abundance of N₂(A) increasing as temperature decreases. After hyperthermal collisions, the formed N₂(X/A) molecules are distributed in highly excited rotational and vibrational states, with internal energies mainly distributed near the dissociation threshold. Additionally, the rate coefficients for this three-body recombination reaction in each state are determined and exhibit a negative correlation with temperature. The dynamic insights presented in this work might be very useful to further simulate non-equilibrium dynamic processes in plasma physics involving N₃ systems.