Calculations of the Far-Wing Line Profiles of Sodium and Potassium in the Atmospheres of Substellar-Mass Objects

At the low temperatures achieved in cool brown dwarf and hot giant planet atmospheres, the less refractory neutral alkali metals assume an uncharacteristically prominent role in spectrum formation. In particular, the wings of the Na-D (5890 \AA) and K I (7700 \AA) resonance lines come to define the continuum and dominate the spectrum of T dwarfs from 0.4 to 1.0 \mic. Whereas in standard stellar atmospheres the strengths and shapes of the wings of atomic spectral lines are rarely needed beyond 25 \AA of a line center, in brown dwarfs the far wings of the Na and K resonance lines out to 1000's of \AA detunings are important. Using standard quantum chemical codes and the Unified Franck-Condon model for line profiles in the quasi-static limit, we calculate the interaction potentials and the wing line shapes for the dominant Na and K resonance lines in H$_2$- and helium-rich atmospheres. Our theory has natural absorption profile cutoffs, has no free parameters, and is readily adapted to spectral synthesis calculations for stars, brown dwarfs, and planets with effective temperatures below 2000 Kelvin.Comment: 14 pages, Latex, 7 figures in JPEG format, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Theoretical study of the absorption spectra of the lithium dimer

For the lithium dimer we calculate cross sections for absorption of radiation from the vibrational-rotational levels of the ground X [singlet Sigma g +] electronic state to the vibrational levels and continua of the excited A [singlet Sigma u +] and B [singlet Pi u] electronic states. Theoretical and experimental data are used to characterize the molecular properties taking advantage of knowledge recently obtained from photoassociation spectroscopy and ultra-cold atom collision studies. The quantum-mechanical calculations are carried out for temperatures in the range from 1000 to 2000 K and are compared with previous calculations and measurements.Comment: 20 pages, revtex, epsf, 6 fig

Theoretical study of the absorption spectra of the sodium dimer

Absorption of radiation from the sodium dimer molecular states correlating to Na(3s)-Na(3s) is investigated theoretically. Vibrational bound and continuum transitions from the singlet X Sigma-g+ state to the first excited singlet A Sigma-u+ and singlet B Pi-u states and from the triplet a Sigma-u+ state to the first excited triplet b Sigma-g+ and triplet c Pi-g states are studied quantum-mechanically. Theoretical and experimental data are used to characterize the molecular properties taking advantage of knowledge recently obtained from ab initio calculations, spectroscopy, and ultra-cold atom collision studies. The quantum-mechanical calculations are carried out for temperatures in the range from 500 to 3000 K and are compared with previous calculations and measurements where available.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, revtex, eps

Quasi-molecular treatment of pressure broadening of spectral lines by neutral perturbers

Some aspects of the unified Franck-Condon approximation to the line shape theory are discussed. Recent attempts to interpret the behaviour of profiles in the line wings are reviewed

Broadening and Shift of Optical Lines of Argon Involving Quasi-Rydberg States

The extended Omont-Ueda-Kaulakys treatment of collisional effects on quasi-Rydberg states, which takes into account the perturbation of the lower state, is applied to Ar*-He, Ar*-Ne and Ar*-Ar systems. The pressure broadening and shift coefficients of spectral lines of argon involving the 3p$\text{}^{5}$ns (n = 6-9) and 3p$\text{}^{5}$nd (n = 4-8) states are determined and compared with those resulting from the experiment