Spectroscopy and dissociative recombination of the lowest rotational states of H+3

Visible transitions from ground state H3+ measured with high-sensitivity action spectroscopy

We report on the recent observation of new spectral lines of cold H(3)(+) ions lying well in the visible spectral region. Transitions from the two lowest ro-vibrational levels to final levels up to 16,700 cm(-1), almost half way to the dissociation limit, have been measured, involving up to eight vibrational quanta. The observed transitions are more than six orders of magnitude less intense than the v(2)(1) fundamental band and yet another order of magnitude weaker than reached by previous sensitive action spectroscopy in the near-infrared region. The measurements were carried out in a cryogenic 22-pole ion trap with H(3)(+) ions cooled to their lowest rotational levels by helium buffer gas. Laser-induced chemical reactions lead to the formation of ArH(+) ions detected with single-ion sensitivity. These visible measurements, together with the previous near-infrared measurements, have helped to further develop empirically corrected calculations and have provided essential benchmarks for new ab initio calculations that now reach a spectroscopic accuracy of 0.1 cm(-1) on average up to the highest observed transition. Highly sensitive action spectroscopy and the attained high-accuracy predictions will enable us to find and measure transitions even further into the visible region of H(3)(+), paving the way towards the dissociation limit.

Dissociative recombination of H3+: 10 years in retrospect

The dissociative recombination of H(3)(+) has been an intriguing problem for more than half a century. The early experiments on H(3)(+) during the first 20 years were carried out without mass analysis in decaying plasma afterglows, and thus the measured rates pertained to an uncontrolled mixture of H(3)(+) and impurity ions. When mass analysis was used, the rate coefficient was determined to be an uneventful value of about 10(-7) cm(3) s(-1), a very common rate coefficient for many molecular ions. But this was not the end of the story, not even the beginning of the end; it marked only the end of the beginning. The story I will tell in this article started about 10 years ago, when the dissociative recombination of H(3)(+) was approaching its deepest crisis. Today, owing to an extensive experimental and theoretical effort, the state of affairs has reached a historically unique level of harmony, although there still remains many things to sort out.

The impact of recent advances in laboratory astrophysics on our understanding of the cosmos

An emerging theme in modern astrophysics is the connection between astronomical observations and the underlying physical phenomena that drive our cosmos. Both the mechanisms responsible for the observed astrophysical phenomena and the tools used to probe such phenomena-the radiation and particle spectra we observe-have their roots in atomic, molecular, condensed matter, plasma, nuclear and particle physics. Chemistry is implicitly included in both molecular and condensed matter physics. This connection is the theme of the present report, which provides a broad, though non-exhaustive, overview of progress in our understanding of the cosmos resulting from recent theoretical and experimental advances in what is commonly called laboratory astrophysics. This work, carried out by a diverse community of laboratory astrophysicists, is increasingly important as astrophysics transitions into an era of precise measurement and high fidelity modeling.