The photodissociation of interstellar CO

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics

Scientific paper

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Carbon Monoxide, Interstellar Gas, Molecular Clouds, Photodissociation, Ultraviolet Spectra, Interstellar Chemistry, Oscillator Strengths

Scientific paper

Laboratory data on the photodissociation cross section of interstellar CO are reviewed, and a mode of computation of the rate in individual lines of CO is presented in the framework of the self-consistent chemical model of interstellar clouds of Viala (1986). The photodissociation rate and the fractional abundance of CO are computed as a function of optical depth within different kinds of interstellar clouds. The results are compared with those obtained with the 'old' photodissociation cross-section of CO. It is found that the photodissociation seems to occur exclusively through absorption of UV radiation in lines toward the predissociated levels of upper electronic states. In the range 885-1099 A, 46 bands in absorption are identified, among which 43 lead to predissociated excited electronic states, most of them Rydberg states. This results in a significant increase of the photodissociation rate of CO, by a factor of about 20 in the unshielded mean interstellar radiation field.

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