Water on the sun: Line assignments based on variational calculations

O L Polyansky, N F Zobov, S Viti, J Tennyson, P F Bernath, L Wallace

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The infrared spectrum of hot water observed in a sunspot has been assigned. The high temperature of the sunspot, (3200 K) gave rise to a highly congested pure rotational spectrum in the 10-micrometer region that involved energy levels at least halfway to dissociation, Traditional spectroscopy, based on perturbation theory, is inadequate for this problem. Instead, accurate variational solutions of the vibration-rotation Schrodinger equation were used to make assignments, revealing unexpected features, including rotational difference bands and fewer degeneracies than anticipated. These results indicate that a shift away from perturbation theory to first. principles calculations is necessary in order to assign spectra of hot polyatomic molecules such as water.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)346-348
Number of pages3
JournalScience
Volume277
Issue number5324
Publication statusPublished - 18 Jul 1997

Keywords

  • HYDROGEN FLAME SPECTRA
  • RO-VIBRATIONAL LEVELS
  • GROUND-STATE
  • (H2O)-O-16
  • CM-1
  • SPECTROSCOPY
  • MOLECULES
  • STRENGTHS
  • H2O-16
  • BANDS

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