Related papers: C-type shock modelling -- the effect of new H$_2$-…
OH is a cornerstone molecule in the chemistry of interstellar and circumstellar media and is ubiquitously detected in warm gas thanks to its infrared rotational lines. However, the excitation processes of OH remain poorly characterized. We…
The modelling of emission spectra of molecules seen in interstellar clouds requires the knowledge of collisional rate coefficients. Among the commonly observed species, N$_2$H$^+$ is of particular interest since it was shown to be a good…
The availability of collisional rate coefficients with H$_2$ is a pre-requisite for interpretation of observations of molecules whose energy levels are populated under non local thermodynamical equilibrium conditions. In the current study,…
The hydronium cation plays a crucial role in interstellar oxygen and water chemistry. While its spectroscopy was extensively investigated earlier, the collisional excitation of H$_3$O$^+$ is not well studied yet. In this work we present…
Collisional de-excitation rates of partially deuterated molecules are different from the fully hydrogenated species because of lowering of symmetry. We compute the collisional (de)excitation rates of ND2H by ground state para-H2, extending…
We report the derivation of rate coefficients for the rotational (de-)excitation of PO$^+$ induced by collisions with H$_2$. The calculations were performed on a four-dimensional potential energy surface, obtained on top of highly accurate…
The interpretation of water line emission from existing observations and future HIFI/Herschel data requires a detailed knowledge of collisional rate coefficients. Among all relevant collisional mechanisms, the rotational (de)excitation of…
We present quantum dynamical calculations that describe the rotational excitation of H$_2$O due to collisions with H atoms. We used a recent, high accuracy potential energy surface, and solved the collisional dynamics with the…
Hydronium (H$_3$O$^+$) was first detected in 1986 in interstellar molecular clouds. It was reported in many galactic diffuse and dense regions, as well as in extragalactic sources. H$_3$O$^+$ plays a major role both in interstellar oxygen…
Cosmic-ray and X-ray ionisations in molecular gas produce a weak far-ultraviolet flux through the radiative decay of H2 molecules that have been excited by collisions with energetic electrons (the Prasad-Tarafdar mechanism). I consider the…
Rate coefficients for rotational transitions in H_2 induced by H_2 impact are presented. Extensive quantum mechanical coupled-channel calculations based on a recently published (H_2)_2 potential energy surface were performed. The potential…
Cross sections for the rotational (de)excitation of CO by ground state para- and ortho-H_2 are obtained using quantum scattering calculations for collision energies between 1 and 520 cm^{-1}. A new CO-H_2 potential energy surface is…
Context. In dffuse interstellar clouds the excitation temperature derived from the lowest levels of H$^+_3$ is systematically lower than that derived from H2. The differences may be attributed to the lack of state-specific formation and…
Collisional excitation rate coefficients play an important role in the dynamics of energy transfer in the interstellar medium. In particular, accurate rotational excitation rates are needed to interpret microwave and infrared observations…
Modeling of molecular emission from interstellar clouds requires the calculation of rates for excitation by collisions with the most abundant species. The present paper focuses on the calculation of rate coefficients for rotational…
Supernovae from core-collapse of massive stars drive shocks into the molecular clouds from which the stars formed. Such shocks affect future star formation from the molecular clouds, and the fast-moving, dense gas with compressed magnetic…
Rate coefficients for collisional processes such as rotational and vibrational excitation are essential inputs in many astrophysical models. When rate coefficients are unknown, they are often estimated using known values from other systems.…
Nitric oxide is an open-shell molecule abundantly detected in the interstellar medium. A precise modeling of its radiative and collisional processes opens the path to a precise estimate of its abundance. We present here the first rate…
Spectrally-resolved observations of three pure rotational lines of H$_2$, conducted with the EXES instrument on SOFIA toward the classic bow shock HH7, reveal systematic velocity shifts between the S(5) line of ortho-H$_2$ and the two…
Context. Recent spectroscopic measurements have revealed absorption from higher rotational levels in C$_2$ than previous observations. These improvements are accompanied by the availability of updated radiative and collisional data. Aims.…