Sulfur recombination: A direct approach

This work presents a direct three-body recombination approach of the sulfur recombination reaction, S + S + M → S₂ + M, at temperatures between 100 and 500 K. Our calculations for M = Ar, based on a classical trajectory approach in hyperspherical coordinates, show excellent agreement with the experimental measurement at T = 298 K of Fair and Thrush [Trans. Faraday Soc. 65, 1208 (1969)]. Similarly, we find that the production of S₂ strongly depends on the SAr product, the other possible reaction channel. Finally, using the classical threshold law, we check sulfur recombination with another third body, M = H₂S, and find no significant change in the rate.