Enhancement of the reaction cross section of H₂ ⁺→H₂⁺+HeH⁺+H by vibrational excitation of H₂⁺ according to the statistical phase-space theory

The quantum-mechanical statistical phase-space theory of Peuchukas, Light, and Nikitin is used to calculate the cross sections for the endothermic reaction He+H₂⁺→HeH⁺+H as a function of initial vibrational state and relative translational energy. The theory predicts enhancement of the reaction cross section by vibrational energy of the reagent, in qualitative agreement with the experimental results of Chupka. However, the experimental enhancement is much greater than that predicted by this theory. The energy dependence of the reaction cross sections for each initial vibrational state is also in only qualitative agreement with experiment.