### ACCURATE PARTITION FUNCTIONS IN THE DETERMINATION OF THE C$sub 2$ ABUNDANCEACCURATE PARTITION FUNCTIONS IN THE DETERMINATION OF THE C$sub 2$ ABUNDANCE

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 Author Clementi, E. Source United States Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information Content type Text Language English
 Subject Keyword PHYSICS ♦ ASTROPHYSICS ♦ CARBON ♦ EXCITATION ♦ HIGH TEMPERATURE ♦ MOLECULES ♦ NUMERICALS ♦ QUANTITY RATIO ♦ QUANTUM MECHANICS ♦ ROTATION ♦ SPECTRA ♦ STARS ♦ SUN ♦ THERMODYNAMICS Abstract Recent theoretical and experimental data on the diatomic carbon molecule make feasible an accurate calculation of the partition function at high temperatures. All the excited states which contribute to the partition function were considered. A table of thermodymmic functions in the tem perature range 2000 to 6000 deg K is given. The results so obtained are used in the recalculation of the molecular abundance, S, as defined by Russell, Roach, and Hunaerts. In the solar reversing layer the molecular abundance was found to be log S = 12.83. The rotational lines of the 0-0 band in the Swam system are used to obtain the molecular abundance. The oscillator strength of the Swan system was taken as f = 0.04 and the molecular excitation temperature as T = 4500 deg K. The results indicate the importance of accurate partition-function calculations in the determination of the molecular abundance. (auth) ISSN 0004637X Educational Use Research Learning Resource Type Article Publisher Date 1961-01-01 Publisher Department Univ. of California, Berkeley Journal Astrophysical Journal Volume Number 133 Organization Univ. of California, Berkeley