A time-independent, variational method for studying the photodissociation of triatomic molecules

The photodissociation of molecules is becoming an increasingly important factor to consider in the evolution of exoplanets' atmospheres orbiting around UV-rich stars, as it leads to the enrichment of atmospheric complexity. A new method is developed for computing the rotationally and vibrationally resolved photodissociation spectrum of triatomic molecules. The time-independent Schrödinger equation is solved using the variational nuclear motion program EVEREST; a new code EXOCSMOOTH is employed to compute the cross-sections by applying Gaussian smoothing to a set of discrete transitions into the continuum. HCN is chosen as the test molecule, as it has been widely studied in the literature. Results are compared with the available experiments. Temperature dependence is explored for temperatures up to 2000 K.

The Photodissociation of HCN and HNC: Effects on the HNC/HCN Abundance Ratio in the Interstellar Medium

The impact of the photodissociation of HCN and HNC isomers is analyzed in different astrophysical environments. For this purpose, the individual photodissociation cross section of HCN and HNC isomers have been calculated in the 7-13.6 eV photon energy range for a temperature of 10 K. These calculations are based on the ab initio calculation of three-dimensional adiabatic potential energy surfaces of the 21 lower electronic states. The cross sections are then obtained using a quantum wave packet calculation of the rotational transitions needed to simulate a rotational temperature of 10 K. The cross section calculated for HCN shows significant differences with respect to the experimental one, and this is attributed to the need of considering non-adiabatic transitions. Ratios between the photodissociation rates of HCN and HNC under different ultraviolet radiation fields have been computed by renormalizing the rates to the experimental one. It is found that HNC is photodissociated faster than HCN by a factor of 2.2, for the local interstellar radiation field, and 9.2, for the solar radiation field at 1 au. We conclude that to properly describe the HNC/HCN abundance ratio in astronomical environments illuminated by an intense ultraviolet radiation field it is necessary to use different photodissociation rates for each of the two isomers, obtained by integrating the product of the photodissociation cross sections and ultraviolet radiation field over the relevant wavelength range.

Photodissociation of HCN and HNC isomers in the 7-10 eV energy range

The ultraviolet photoabsorption spectra of the HCN and HNC isomers have been simulated in the 7-10 eV photon energy range. For this purpose, the three-dimensional adiabatic potential energy surfaces of the 7 lowest electronic states, and the corresponding transition dipole moments, have been calculated, at multireference configuration interaction level. The spectra are calculated with a quantum wave packet method on these adiabatic potential energy surfaces. The spectra for the 3 lower excited states, the dissociative electronic states, correspond essentially to predissociation peaks, most of them through tunneling on the same adiabatic state. The 3 higher electronic states are bound, hereafter electronic bound states, and their spectra consist of delta lines, in the adiabatic approximation. The radiative lifetime towards the ground electronic states of these bound states has been calculated, being longer than 10 ns in all cases, much longer that the characteristic predissociation lifetimes. The spectra of HCN is compared with the available experimental and previous theoretical simulations, while in the case of HNC there are no previous studies to our knowledge. The spectrum for HNC is considerably more intense than that of HCN in the 7-10 eV photon energy range, which points to a higher photodissociation rate for HNC, compared to HCN, in astrophysical environments illuminated by ultraviolet radiation.