Statistical evaporation of rotating clusters. III. Molecular clusters.

Unimolecular evaporation of weakly bound clusters made of rigid molecules is considered from the points of view of statistical theories and molecular dynamics simulations. We explicitly work out expressions for the kinetic energy released and product angular momentum distributions within the sphere+sphere and sphere+linear rigid body assumptions of phase space theory (PST). Various approximations are investigated, including the shape of the interaction potential between the two fragments and the anharmonicity of the vibrational density of states. The comparison between phase space theory and simulation for nitrogen and methane clusters shows a quantitative agreement, thereby suggesting that PST is accurate in predicting statistical observables in a wide range of systems under various physical conditions.