Elementary exposition of realizing phase space structures relevant to chemical reaction dynamics

Abstract

In this article, we review the analytical and numerical approaches for computing the phase space structures in two degrees-of-freedom Hamiltonian systems that arise in chemical reactions. In particular, these phase space structures are the unstable periodic orbit associated with an index-1 saddle, the periodic orbit dividing surface, and the stable and unstable invariant manifolds of the unstable periodic orbit. We review the approaches in the context of a two degrees-of-freedom Hamiltonian with a quartic potential coupled with a quadratic potential. We derive the analytical form of the phase space structures for the integrable case and visualize their geometry on the three dimensional energy surface. We then investigate the bifurcation of the dividing surface due to the changes in the parameters of the potential energy. We also review the numerical method of \emph{turning point} and present its new modification called the \emph{turning point based on configuration difference} for computing the unstable periodic orbit in two degrees-of-freedom systems. These methods are implemented in the open-source python package, UPOsHam~\cite{Lyu2020}.