MODELING OF COLLISION-INDUCED INFRARED-ABSORPTION SPECTRA OF H-2 PAIRS IN THE FIRST OVERTONE BAND AT TEMPERATURES FROM 20-K TO 500-K

A simple formalism is presented that permits quick computations of the low-resolution, rotovibrational collision-induced absorption (RV CIA) spectra of H-2 pairs in the first overtone band of hydrogen, at temperatures from 20 to 500 K. These spectra account for the free-free transitions. The sharp dimer features, originating from the bound-free, free-bound, and bound-bound transitions are ignored, though their integrated intensities are properly accounted for. The method employs spectral model lineshapes with parameters computed from the three lowest spectral moments. The moments are obtained from first principles and expressed as analytical functions of temperature. Except for the sharp dimer features, which are absent in this model, the computed spectra reproduce closely the results of exact quantum mechanical lineshape computations. Comparisons of the computed spectra with existing experimental data also show good agreement. The work is of interest for the modeling of the atmospheres of the outer planets in the near-infrared region of the spectrum. The user-friendly Fortran program developed here is available on request from the authors. (C) 1995 Academic Press, Inc.