Absolute measurements of state-to-state rotational energy transfer between CO and H2 at interstellar temperatures

Labiad, Hamza; Fournier, Martin; Mertens, Laura A.; Faure, Alexandre; Carty, David; Stoecklin, Thierry; Jankowski, Piotr; Szalewicz, Krzysztof; Le Picard, Sébastien D.; Sims, Ian R.

Abstract

Experimental measurements and theoretical calculations of state-to-state rate coefficients for rotational energy transfer of CO in collision with H2 are reported at the very low temperatures prevailing in dense interstellar clouds (5–20 K). Detailed agreement between quantum state-selected experiments performed in cold supersonic flows using time-resolved infrared–vacuum-ultraviolet double-resonance spectroscopy and close-coupling quantum scattering calculations confirms the validity of the calculations for collisions between the two most abundant molecules in the interstellar medium.

Citation

Labiad, H., Fournier, M., Mertens, L. A., Faure, A., Carty, D., Stoecklin, T., Jankowski, P., Szalewicz, K., Le Picard, S. D., & Sims, I. R. (2022). Absolute measurements of state-to-state rotational energy transfer between CO and H2 at interstellar temperatures. Physical Review A, 105(2), Article L020802. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.105.l020802

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 21, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Feb 23, 2022
• Publication Date: 2022-02
• Deposit Date: Mar 17, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 14, 2022
• Journal: Physical Review A
• Print ISSN: 2469-9926
• Electronic ISSN: 2469-9934
• Publisher: American Physical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 105
• Issue: 2
• Article Number: L020802
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.105.l020802
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1211251
• Related Public URLs: https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.00342