| Transition state theory is the fundamental theory of chemical reaction reates. Its central challenge is to distinguish between trajectories that will cross a phase space bottleneck and those that will be repelled. Recent developments in transition state theory brought about by dynamical systems theory are extended to time-dependent systems such as laser-driven reactions. Using time-dependent normal form theory, the authors construct a reaction coordinate with regular dynamics inside the transition region. The conservation of the associated action enables one to extract time-dependent invariant manifolds that act as separatrices between reactive and nonreactive trajectories and thus make it possible to predict the ultimate fate of a trajectory. |
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