Pressure Effects on the Relaxation of an Excited Ethane Molecule in High-Pressure Bath Gases.

We use molecular dynamics to calculate the rotational and vibrational energy relaxation of CH in Ar, Kr, and Xe bath gases over a pressure range of 10-400 atm and at temperatures of 300 and 800 K. The CH is instantaneously excited by 80 kcal/mol randomly distributed into both vibrational and rotational modes. The computed relaxation rates show little sensitivity to the identity of the noble gas in the bath.