In this paper we investigate the dynamics of orbiting complex formation in Na+/N2 collisions using classical trajectories. We first demonstrate that the rigid-rotor approximation is appropriate for computing complex formation probabilities and lifetimes, as the NZ vibration is weakly coupled to the other degrees of freedom. For a collision ensemble with zero impact parameter and total angular momentum J = 0, complex formation probabilities exhibit oscillatory behavior with E. Several different

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... epresentations of the phase space structure are compared, and it is found that the (yp") surface of section provides most insight into the complex formation dynamics. Oscillatory complex formation probabilities and the influence of potential anisotropy on complex formation rates are analyzed in terms of the (y,pv) section.