Collision-induced spectroscopy and line shapes
Collision-induced spectroscopy is an important mechanism for the greenhouse effect in planetary and stellar atmospheres with a small fraction of polar molecules. In these environments, short-lived molecular complexes often dominate the absorption of infrared and microwave radiation. For example, the four giant planets in our solar system are so massive and cold that they have large amounts of hydrogen and helium in their atmospheres.
Collision-induced absorption is very important to explain the radiation balance in those atmospheres. Astrophysicists modeling planetary atmospheres need to know the absorption of different mixtures of non-polar gases. We calculate these absorption coefficients with computer programs based on atomic and molecular dynamics. We are also interested in fundamental line shape theory. Spectral line shapes can provide information about underlying molecular interactions in a medium, and they can be used to analyze measurements of spectra.
Publications
- Hydrogen Dimers in Giant-planet Infrared Spectra
- Recent advances in collisional effects on spectra of molecular gases and their practical consequences
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