Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: Cooling of primordial gas plays a crucial role in the birth of the first structures in our Universe. Due to the low fractional abundance of molecular species at high redshifts, spontaneous emission rather than collisions represents the most efficient way to cool the pristine plasma. In the present work, radiative cooling functions are evaluated for the diatomic species HD, HD+, HeH+, LiH and LiH+. Cooling functions for the triatomic ions H+3 and H2D+ are also considered. Analytic fits as functions of temperature are provided.
Authors: C. M. Coppola, L. Lodi, J. Tennyson
Institutions: University College London, University of Bari Aldo Moro
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2115658261