Ab Initio Study of Inelastic Collision. Processes for Astronomical Applications

Contains fulltext : 155534.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)This thesis is devoted to a quantum mechanical study of inelastic collision processes for astronomical applications. We were interested, in particular, in the scattering of CO with its collision partners in space, such as H, He and H2. The main goal of the work was to provide state-to-state rate coefficients for pure rotational and ro-vibrational transitions of CO induced by inelastic collisions with H atoms. The calculated results were imported into the Leiden Atomic and Molecular Database (LAMDA) in use for current and future astrophysical modeling. Furthermore, we investigated He-CO, H2-CO and Ar-CO collisions. For those systems, differential cross sections and/or polarization dependent differential cross sections were calculated at the collision energies corresponding to the measurements of our experimental collaborators in this work. Our results, in comparison with the data from molecular beam experiments, allowed us to check the accuracy of the ab initio intermolecular interaction potentials used in our studies and to obtain detailed information on the dynamics of the collision processes.Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, 3 maart 2016Promotores : Groenenboom, G.C., Avoird, A. van der168 p