Nuclear quantum effects, tunneling and reaction dynamics
Light nuclei, especially hydrogen, behave partly like waves: they tunnel through energy barriers and are never fully at rest. Together with laser experiments that follow single collisions between molecules, this shows that reaction rates often depart from the simple picture of crossing one energy barrier.
Why it matters
Proton transfer, enzyme catalysis, isotope effects, and atmospheric, combustion and interstellar chemistry rely on rates that theory must supply where experiments cannot.
Review
T. E. Markland, M. Ceriotti, Nuclear quantum effects enter the mainstream, Nature Reviews Chemistry, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41570-017-0109 reference checked
Timestamp record
- Signed record
- 5b96a7870a9e…
- Public log
- Entry 112, in checkpoint 2,123
- In the log by
- Block 969,698, 2026-10-03
This text was in the PubPhys log by that date. The date says nothing about when the problem was first posed.