Fano interference and cross-section fluctuations in molecular photodissociation
(by Thomas Gorin)
We derive an expression for the total photodissociation cross
section of a molecule incorporating both direct and indirect
processes (proceeding through excited resonances), and show that
it exhibits generalized Beutler-Fano line shapes in the limit of
isolated resonances. Assuming that the closed system can be
modeled by random matrix theory, we derive the statistical
properties of the photodissociation cross section and find that
they are significantly affected by the direct processes. In
particular we identify a unique signature of the direct
processes in the distribution of the photodissociation cross
section.