ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS LAB

My current research activities are focused towards developing theoretical/computational models of statistical dissociation processes of astronomically important molecules, in specific poly-aromatic hydrocarbons and their nitrogenated counterparts which have been detected in the ISM, titan and other environments. I have carried out extensive RRKM and DFT calculations on various target molecules, establishing important dynamical aspects in their dissociative pathways, like for instance the role of specific isomerizations. These theoretical investigations are being performed to complement experiments performed using the synchrotron source at Elettra and an energy correlated time of flight instrument developed in our laboratory at IIST. The dissociative processes that are being studied occur in timescales ranging from microseconds to milliseconds with precursor processes like isomerizations and internal conversions occurring on much shorter timescales and hence a wide of theories are being employed to study them.