Quantum States and Dynamics of Hydrogen

Although the classical description of the atomic nuclei is sufficient in most scenarios, certain phenomena require a quantum mechanical treatment to fully grasp the nature of such particles. Since the quantum mechanical features are prominently associated with particles with small masses, hydrogen can exhibit quantum mechanical-based phenomena at relatively high temperatures as compared to other elements. This chapter will discuss various phenomena and applications where the quantum mechanical description of nuclei is vital. It starts with a brief review of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation, a necessary framework to treat the nuclei motions at their electronic ground state. The next two sections then discuss the hydrogen adsorption and hydrogen reaction dynamics on surfaces under the quantum mechanical framework, respectively. The chapter then concludes with a brief review of the measurement methods for hydrogen dynamics on surfaces.