Intramolecular vibrational dynamical barrier due to extremely irrational couplings

The intramolecular vibrational dynamics due to extremely irrational couplings is demonstrated by contrast to the resonance couplings, for the three-mode case of H₂O as an example. The extremely irrational couplings are shown to impose such strong hindrance to intramolecular vibrational relaxation (IVR) that they act as barriers. They restrict the direct action/energy transfer between the two stretching modes, though they allow the transfer between a stretching and a bending modes. In contrast, the resonance is more mediated by the bending mode and leads to chaotic IVR. It is also shown that there is a region in the dynamical space in which resonance and extremely irrational couplings coexist.