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We consider a problem of calculating both thermal and microcanonical rate constants for nonadiabatic chemical reactions. Instead of using the conventional transition state theory, we use a generalized seam surface and introduce a concept of a coordinate dependent effective nonadiabatic transition probability based on the Zhu–Nakamura theory which can treat the nonadiabatic tunneling properly. The present approach can be combined with Monte Carlo method so as to be applicable to chemical reactions in complicated systems. The method is demonstrated to work well in wide energy and temperature range. Numerical tests also show that it is very essential for accurate evaluation of the thermal rate constant to use the generalized seam surface and take into account the nonadiabatic tunneling effect.© 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quantum mechanical theory for chemical reaction rates is presented which is modeled after the [semiclassical (SC)] instanton approximation. It incorporates the desirable aspects of the instanton picture, which involves only properties of the (SC approximation to the) Boltzmann operator, but corrects its quantitative deficiencies by replacing the SC approximation for the Boltzmann operator by the quantum Boltzmann operator, exp(-βĤ). Since a calculation of the quantum Boltzmann operator is feasible for quite complex molecular systems (by Monte Carlo path integral methods), having an accurate rate theory that involves only the Boltzmann operator could be quite useful. The application of this quantum instanton approximation to several one- and two-dimensional model problems illustrates its potential; e.g., it is able to describe thermal rate constants accurately (∼10- 20% error) from high to low temperatures deep in the tunneling regime, and applies equally well to asymmetric and symmetric potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]