The effect of a mechanical force on quantum reaction rate: quantum Bell formula

The purpose of this note is to derive a quantum-mechanical analog of Bell's formula, which describes the sensitivity of a chemical reaction to a mechanical pulling force. According to this formula, the reaction rate depends exponentially on the force f, i.e., k(f) ~ exp(f/f(c)), where the force scale f(c) is estimated as the thermal energy k(B)T divided by a distance a between the reactant and transition states along the pulling coordinate. Here I use instanton theory to show that, at low temperatures where quantum tunneling is dominant, this force scale becomes f(c) ~ ℏω/a (in the limit where frictional damping is absent) or f(c) ~ ℏτ(-1)/a (in the strong damping limit). Here ω is a characteristic vibration frequency along the pulling coordinate and τ is a characteristic relaxation time in the reactant state. That is, unlike the classical case where f(c) is unaffected by dissipation, this force scale becomes friction dependent in the quantum limit. I further derive higher-order corrections in the force dependence of the rate, describe generalizations to many degrees of freedom, and discuss connection to other quantum rate theories.