Collisional excitation of methylene by molecular hydrogen

ABSTRACT Accurate estimates of the abundance of methylene (CH2) in the interstellar medium require knowledge of both the radiative and collisional rate coefficients for the transfer of population between rotational levels. In this work, time-independent quantum close coupling calculations have been carried out to compute rate coefficients for the (de-)excitation of ortho- and para-CH2 in collisions with ortho- and para-H2. These scattering calculations have employed a recently computed, high-quality potential energy surface, based on the coupled cluster level of theory [RCCSD(T)-F12a], for the interaction of CH2 in its ground $\tilde{X} ^3B_1$ electronic state with H2. The collisional rate coefficients were obtained for all fine-structure transitions among the first 22 and 24 energy levels of ortho- and para-CH2, respectively, having energies less than 277 cm−1. These rate coefficients are compared with previous calculated values, obtained by scaling data for CH2–He. In the case of ortho-CH2, whose levels display hyperfine structure, rate coefficients for transitions between hyperfine levels were also computed, by the MJ randomization approximation. Finally, some simple radiative transfer calculations are presented.