Non-equilibrium reactive flux: A unified framework for slow and fast reaction kinetics.

The flux formulation of reaction rate theory is recast in terms of the expectation value of the reactive flux with an initial condition that corresponds to a non-equilibrium, factorized reactant density. In the common case of slow reactive processes, the non-equilibrium expression reaches the plateau regime only slightly slower than the equilibrium flux form. When the reactants are described by a single quantum state, as in the case of electron transfer reactions, the factorized reactant density describes the true initial condition of the reactive process. In such cases, the time integral of the non-equilibrium flux expression yields the reactant population as a function of time, allowing characterization of the dynamics in cases where there is no clear separation of time scales and thus a plateau regime cannot be identified. The non-equilibrium flux offers a unified approach to the kinetics of slow and fast chemical reactions and is ideally suited to mixed quantum-classical methods.