Molecular collisions in astrophysics : from interstellar clouds to exoplanetary atmospheres

Séminaire IPAG de Jérôme Loreau (U. Bruxelles), jeudi 1er février 2018 à 11h00, salle Manuel Forestini IPAG

Major advances in astrochemistry are generally driven by new observational data. Current facilities such as ALMA have contributed to a better understanding of star and planet formation, from molecular clouds to protoplanetary disks, while future instruments such as the JWST or the ELT will allow further progress, for example in the study of the composition of exoplanetary atmospheres. As observations rely mostly on atomic and molecular spectra, their interpretation requires models describing the local chemistry as well as molecular excitation. The rate coefficients for reactive and non-reactive molecular collisions are therefore a crucial ingredient of models of astrophysical environments. Through a few examples, I will discuss current challenges in the theoretical description of molecular collisions and how these affect models of the interstellar medium, protoplanetary disks, comets, and (exo)planetary atmospheres.