. libRadtran is a widely used software package for radiative transfer calculations. It allows one to compute (polarized) radiances, irradiance, and actinic fluxes in the solar and thermal spectral regions. libRadtran has been used for various applications, including remote sensing of clouds, aerosols and trace gases in the Earth's atmosphere, climate studies, e.g., for the calculation of radiative forcing due to different atmospheric components, for UV forecasting, the calculation of photolysis frequencies, and for remote sensing of other planets in our solar system. The package has been described in Mayer and Kylling (2005). Since then several new features have been included, for example polarization, Raman scattering, a new molecular gas absorption parameterization, and several new parameterizations of cloud and aerosol optical properties. Furthermore, a graphical user interface is now available, which greatly simplifies the usage of the model, especially for new users. This paper gives an overview of libRadtran version 2.0.1 with a focus on new features. Applications including these new features are provided as examples of use. A complete description of libRadtran and all its input options is given in the user manual included in the libRadtran software package, which is freely available at http://www.libradtran.org .

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The libRadtran software package for radiative transfer calculations (version 2.0.1)

A new collection of photodissociation and photoionisation cross sections for 102 atoms and molecules of astrochemical interest has been assembled, along with a brief review of the basic physical processes involved. These have been used to calculate dissociation and ionisation rates, with uncertainties, in a standard ultraviolet interstellar radiation field (ISRF) and for other wavelength-dependent radiation fields, including cool stellar and solar radiation, Lyman-α dominated radiation, and a cosmic-ray induced ultraviolet flux. The new ISRF rates generally agree within 30% with our previous compilations, with a few notable exceptions. Comparison with other databases such as PHIDRATES is made. The reduction of rates in shielded regions was calculated as a function of dust, molecular and atomic hydrogen, atomic C, and self-shielding column densities. The relative importance of these shielding types depends on the atom or molecule in question and the assumed dust optical properties. All of the new data are publicly available from the Leiden photodissociation and ionisation database. Sensitivity of the calculated rates to variation of temperature and isotope, and uncertainties in measured or calculated cross sections, are tested and discussed. Tests were conducted on the new rates with an interstellar-cloud chemical model, and find general agreement (within a factor of two) in abundances obtained with the previous iteration of the Leiden database assuming an ISRF, and order-of-magnitude variations assuming various kinds of stellar radiation. The newly parameterised dust-shielding factors makes a factor-of-two difference to many atomic and molecular abundances relative to parameters currently in the UDfA and KIDA astrochemical reaction databases. The newly-calculated cosmic-ray induced photodissociation and ionisation rates differ from current standard values up to a factor of 5. Under high temperature and cosmic-ray-flux conditions the new rates alter the equilibrium abundances of abundant dark cloud abundances by up to a factor of two. The partial cross sections for H2 O and NH3 photodissociation forming OH, O, NH2 and NH are also evaluated and lead to radiation-field-dependent branching ratios.

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Photodissociation and photoionisation of atoms and molecules of astrophysical interest

Accurate values for the orientation-averaged long-range dipole-dipole dispersion energy coefficients, C 6(A, B), have been determined for all possible pair interactions involving ground state H, Li, N, O, H2, N2, O2, NH3, H2O, NO, and N2O. The calculations have been carried out by employing dipole oscillator strength distributions for these species that have been constructed (except in the case of H) by using discrete oscillator strength, photo-absorption, and high energy inelastic scattering data and by requiring the distributions to reproduce the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn sum rule and, in the case of the molecules, available accurate refractivity and dispersion measurements for the relevant dilute gases. These oscillator strength distributions were also used to evaluate the refractivity R(λ), as a function of wavelength λ in the visible and ultra-violet region below the ultra-violet absorption thresholds, and the dipole oscillator strength sums S -2l , l = 1, 2, …, 7, for each atom and molecule. The calculated...

Dispersion energy constants C 6(A, B), dipole oscillator strength sums and refractivities for Li, N, O, H2, N2, O2, NH3, H2O, NO and N2O

We present a comprehensive photochemistry model for exploration of the chemical composition of terrestrial exoplanet atmospheres. The photochemistry model is designed from the ground up to have the capacity to treat all types of terrestrial planet atmospheres, ranging from oxidizing through reducing, which makes the code suitable for applications for the wide range of anticipated terrestrial exoplanet compositions. The one-dimensional chemical transport model treats up to 800 chemical reactions, photochemical processes, dry and wet deposition, surface emission, and thermal escape of O, H, C, N, and S bearing species, as well as formation and deposition of elemental sulfur and sulfuric acid aerosols. We validate the model by computing the atmospheric composition of current Earth and Mars and find agreement with observations of major trace gases in Earth's and Mars' atmospheres. We simulate several plausible atmospheric scenarios of terrestrial exoplanets and choose three benchmark cases for atmospheres from reducing to oxidizing. The most interesting finding is that atomic hydrogen is always a more abundant reactive radical than the hydroxyl radical in anoxic atmospheres. Whether atomic hydrogen is the most important removal path for a molecule of interest also depends on the relevant reaction rates. We also find that volcanic carbon compounds (i.e., CH4 and CO2) are chemically long-lived and tend to be well mixed in both reducing and oxidizing atmospheres, and their dry deposition velocities to the surface control the atmospheric oxidation states. Furthermore, we revisit whether photochemically produced oxygen can cause false positives for detecting oxygenic photosynthesis, and find that in 1 bar CO2-rich atmospheres oxygen and ozone may build up to levels that have conventionally been accepted as signatures of life, if there is no surface emission of reducing gases. The atmospheric scenarios presented in this paper can serve as the benchmark atmospheres for quickly assessing the lifetime of trace gases in reducing, weakly oxidizing, and highly oxidizing atmospheres on terrestrial exoplanets for the exploration of possible biosignature gases.

Photochemistry in Terrestrial Exoplanet Atmospheres I: Photochemistry Model and Benchmark Cases

Circumstellar disks are exposed to intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the young star. In the inner disks, the UV radiation can be enhanced by more than seven orders of magnitude compared with the average interstellar radiation field, resulting in a physical and chemical structure that resembles that of a dense photon-dominated region (PDR). This intense UV field affects the chemistry, the vertical structure of the disk, and the gas temperature, especially in the surface layers. The parameters which make disks different from more traditional PDRs are discussed, including the shape of the UV radiation field, grain growth, the absence of PAHs, the gas/dust ratio and the presence of inner holes. Illustrative infrared spectra from the Spitzer Space Telescope are shown. New photodissociation cross sections for selected species, including simple ions, are presented. Also, a summary of cross sections at the Lyman α 1216 A line, known to be strong for some T Tauri stars, is made. Photodissociation and ionization rates are computed for different radiation fields with color temperatures ranging from 30 000 to 4000 K and grain sizes up to a few μm. The importance of a proper treatment of the photoprocesses is illustrated for the transitional disk toward HD 141569A which includes grain growth.

Photoprocesses in protoplanetary disks

An attempt has been made to measure the absorption cross sections of O2 in the metastable state a1Δg from 1087 to 1700 A. The absorption is measurable (σa ≥ 3 × 10−19 cm2) from around 1500 A toward...

M. Ogawa

Papers

Absorption Cross Sections of O2(a1Δg) and O2(X3Σg−) in the Region from 1087 to 1700 Å