Catalyzing new international collaboration. US-Taiwan collaboration of experimental and theoretical study of rovibrational spectra of small hydrogen-containing molecules and ions.

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The majority of our knowledge of the astronomical world is derived from the emission, absorption,and scattering of electromagnetic radiation from atoms and molecules. The astronomical observationsof atomic and molecular spectra including transition energies, intensities, and light polarizationcomplemented with laboratory experiments and theoretical calculations are essential in the study ofstellar atmospheres. The goal of this CNIC proposal is to catalyze an international interdisciplinarycollaboration between the group of Prof. Ludwik Adamowicz, at the Department of Chemistryand Biochemistry, the University of Arizona (USA) and Prof. Jow-Tsong Shy, at the Departmentof Physics, the National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan) on performing very accurate experimentaland theoretical studies of the rovibrational (rovib) spectra of small hydrogen-containing moleculesand clusters. These systems constitute a significant portion of the mass of the universe and arekey to the interstellar chemistry. The goal of this collaborative is to characterize and assign therovibrational spectra of the studied molecular systems. The obtained data can be very helpful inidentifying spectral lines recorded by telescopes and assigning these lines to particular molecules andclusters. As a result, knowledge will be gained about the compositions of various domains in theuniverse and about chemistry occurring there.This collaboration brings together groups with very different research profiles. The Taiwangroup has been concerned with high-precision experimental spectroscopy studies of small neutral andcharged molecular systems. The theoretical-chemistry Arizona group has been involved in developmentand application of very accurate quantum-mechanical methods for calculating spectra of small atomsand molecules. Both groups are accomplished in their respective fields. In this project, the theoryand the experiment will be combined in elucidation of the spectra of molecules and clusters involvinghydrogen and its isotopes. The studies are very fundamental in nature and as such they are wellsuited for NSF funding.