Group theory of constrained reaction mechanisms
Keyword(s):
The One
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It is shown that the family of all possible reaction mechanisms on a given potential energy hypersurface, which reaction mechanisms are constrained by a localstabilitycriterion, has an algebraic structure. The fundamental relations among all such "λ-constrained" reaction mechanisms are described in terms of a group, the one dimensional homotopygroup π1(Y). In contrast with the energy-dependentgroup π1(F) of fundamentalreactionmechanisms, proposed earlier for the lowenergydomainsF of potential energy hypersurfaces, the new group π1(Y) is fully determined by the distributionofcatchmentregions, representingchemicalspecies on the potential energy hypersurface.