Rotational excitation of SO2 by collision with H2: a collaborative work

Abstract

The SO2 molecule is detected in a large variety of objects, notably cold dark clouds and star-forming regions. An accurate modeling of the observations requires a very good knowledge of the collisional excitation rates with H2 due to competition between collisional and radiative processes that excite and quench the different rotational levels of the molecule. The results of our recent collisional calculations are summarized. Pierre was associated to all steps of this collaborative work that was a key project in the Molecular Universe European FP6 network.