2003/12/18 by A. Jorissen
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Chemical Physics Studies #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1238/physica.topical.112a00073
20 pages, 12 figures, to appear in Physica Scripta, Topical Issue (Proceedings of the 35th EGAS conference -- European Group for Atomic Spectroscopy)
arxiv created 2003/12/18 · openalex publication_date 2004/01/01 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
This review highlights current (and future) hot topics in astrophysics where atomic or molecular input data are (or will be) essential, with special emphasis on topics relating to nucleosynthesis and cosmochemistry. We first discuss issues (like the abundances of oxygen and iron in the Sun, and that of lithium in post-AGB stars) where the use of poor-quality atomic or molecular data have led to spurious astrophysical puzzles which sparked fancy astrophysical models or theories. We then address issues where the advent of new instruments (like the ultraviolet high-resolution spectrographs—GHRS onboard HST, Keck-HRS or VLT-UVES—or future infrared satellites) calls for new and accurate atomic or molecular data.