Rotational quenching of rotationally-excited H$_2$O in collisions with He

Abstract

Theoretical rotational quenching cross sections and rate coefficients of ortho- and para-H$_2$O due to collisions with He atoms are presented. The complete angular momentum close-coupling approach as well as the coupled-states approximation for angular momentum decoupling were applied to solve the scattering problem for a large range of rotationally-excited states of water. Results are obtained for quenching from initial levels 1$_{1,0}$, 2$_{1,2}$, 2$_{2,1}$, 3$_{0,3}$, 3$_{1,2}$, 3$_{2,1}$, 4$_{1,4}$, 3$_{3,0}$, and 4$_{2,3}$ of ortho-H$_2$O and from initial levels 1$_{1,1}$, 2$_{0,2}$, 2$_{1,1}$, 2$_{2,0}$, 3$_{1,3}$, 3$_{2,2}$, 4$_{0,4}$, 4$_{1,3}$, and 3$_{3,1}$ of para-H$_2$O for kinetic energies from 10$^{-5}$ to 10$^4$ cm$^{-1}$. State-to-state and total deexcitation cross sections and rate coefficients for temperatures between 0.1 and 3000 K are reported. The present state-to-state rate coefficients are found to be in good agreement with previous results obtained by Green and coworkers at high temperatures, but significant discrepancies are obtained at lower temperatures likely due to differences in the adopted potential energy surfaces. Astrophysical applications of the current rate coefficients are briefly discussed.