HD-H+ collisions: statistical and quantum state-to-state studies.

In the early Universe, the cooling mechanisms of the gas significantly rely on the HD abundance and excitation conditions. A proper modeling of its formation and destruction paths as well as its excitation by both radiative and collisional processes is then required to accurately describe the cooling mechanisms of the pristine gas. In such media, ion-molecule reactions are dominant. Their theoretical study is challenging and state-of-the-art quantum time-independent methods are computationally limited to collisions involving light molecules. Here, we report a state-to-state scattering study of the HD-H+ collisional system using two different methods: an exact quantum time-independent approach and a recently developed fast and efficient statistical method. Reactive and inelastic rate coefficients were obtained for temperatures up to 300 K. The statistical method is able to reproduce exact calculations with an accuracy reaching the astrophysical needs while drastically reducing the computational resources requirements. Such results suggest that this new statistical method should be considered to provide the astrophysical community collisional data for which quantum calculations are impossible.

Benchmarking an improved statistical adiabatic channel model for competing inelastic and reactive processes.

Inelastic collisions and elementary chemical reactions proceeding through the formation and subsequent decay of an intermediate collision complex, with an associated deep well on the potential energy surface, pose a challenge for accurate fully quantum mechanical approaches, such as the close-coupling method. In this study, we report on the theoretical prediction of temperature-dependent state-to-state rate coefficients for these complex-mode processes, using a statistical quantum method. This statistical adiabatic channel model is benchmarked by a direct comparison using accurate rate coefficients from the literature for a number of systems (H2 + H+, HD + H+, SH+ + H, and CH+ + H) of interest in astrochemistry and astrophysics. For all of the systems considered, an error of less than factor 2 was found, at least for the dominant transitions and at low temperatures, which is sufficiently accurate for applications in the above mentioned disciplines.

Collisional excitation of interstellar PN by H2: New interaction potential and scattering calculations.

Rotational excitation of interstellar PN molecules induced by collisions with H2 is investigated. We present the first ab initio four-dimensional potential energy surface (PES) for the PN-H2 van der Waals system. The PES was obtained using an explicitly correlated coupled cluster approach with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations [CCSD(T)-F12b]. The method of interpolating moving least squares was used to construct an analytical PES from these data. The equilibrium structure of the complex was found to be linear, with H2 aligned at the N end of the PN molecule, at an intermolecular separation of 4.2 Å. The corresponding well-depth is 224.3 cm-1. The dissociation energies were found to be 40.19 cm-1 and 75.05 cm-1 for complexes of PN with ortho-H2 and para-H2, respectively. Integral cross sections for rotational excitation in PN-H2 collisions were calculated using the new PES and were found to be strongly dependent on the rotational level of the H2 molecule. These new collisional data will be crucial to improve the estimation of PN abundance in the interstellar medium from observational spectra.

Collisional energy transfer in the HeH+-H reactive system.

The HeH+ molecule is the first to be formed in the Universe. Its recent detection, in the interstellar medium, has increased the interest in the study of the physical and chemical properties of this ion. Here, we report exact quantum time-independent calculations of the collisional cross sections and rate coefficients for the rotational excitation of HeH+ by H. Reactive and exchange channels are taken into account in the scattering calculations. Cross sections are computed for energies of up to 10 000 cm-1, enabling the computation of rate coefficients for temperatures of up to 500 K. The strongest collision-induced rotational HeH+ transitions are those with Δj = 1. Previous results obtained using approximate treatment are compared to the new ones, and significant differences are found. The new rate coefficients are also compared to those for electron-impact rotational excitation, and we found that collisions with H dominate the excitation of HeH+ in media where the electron fraction is less than 10-4. In the light of those results, we recommend the use of the new HeH+-H collisional data in order to accurately model HeH+ excitation in both the interstellar media and early Universe.

Collisional Excitation of CF+ by H2: Potential Energy Surface and Rotational Cross Sections.

The CF+ molecule is considered one of the key species for the study of fluorine chemistry in the interstellar medium (ISM). Its recent detection, as well as its potential use as a tracer for atomic fluorine in the ISM, has increased the interest in the study of the physical and chemical properties of this cation. Accurate determination of the CF+ abundance in the ISM requires detailed modeling of its excitation from both radiation and collisions with the most dominant species, which are usually atomic and molecular hydrogen. Here, we report a new highly accurate potential energy surface (PES) describing the interaction between CF+ and the H2 molecule. Exact quantum time-independent calculations of the rotational excitation cross sections for collisions of CF+ with both para- and ortho-H2 are reported. Results obtained for collisions with para-H2 are compared to previous calculations performed using an approximate PES averaged over H2 rotation. Excitation data for collisions with ortho-H2 are provided for the first time.

Rotational Excitation of HD by Hydrogen Revisited.

The HD molecules are key species for the cooling of pristine gas at temperatures below 100 K. They are also known to be key tracers of H2 in protoplanetary disks and thus, they can be used as a measure of protoplanetary disks mass. Accurate modeling of the cooling mechanism and of HD abundance in astrophysical media requires a proper modeling for its excitation by both radiative and collisional processes. Here, we report quantum time-independent calculations of collisional rate coefficients for the rotational excitation of HD by H for temperatures ranging from 10 to 1000 K. The reactive and hydrogen exchange channels are taken into account in the scattering calculations. New exact quantum results are compared to previous calculations performed neglecting reactive and exchange channels. We found that for temperatures higher than ∼300 K, the impact of these channels on the rate coefficients cannot be neglected. Such results suggest that the new HD-H collisional data have to be used for properly modeling HD cooling function and HD abundance in all the astrophysical environments where HD plays a role, e.g. in photon-dominated regions, protoplanetary disks, early Universe chemistry, and primordial star forming regions.