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Modeling Vibrational Populations of Metastable Molecular Nitrogen in Titan’s Atmosphere during the Precipitation of High-Energy Particles

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Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences: Physics Aims and scope

Abstract

A study is performed of the kinetics of triplet states of molecular nitrogen at the altitudes of Titan’s upper and middle atmosphere during the precipitation of high-energy electrons and cosmic rays. Collisional molecular processes with atmospheric components are considered for the first time in order to calculate concentrations of metastable molecular nitrogen \({{{\text{N}}}_{2}}\left( {{{{\text{A}}}^{3}}\Sigma _{u}^{ + }} \right)\). Numerical calculations show that inelastic molecular collisions result in the predominant accumulation of electronic excitation energy of metastable nitrogen at lower vibrational level ν = 0 and the altitudes of the middle atmosphere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Polar Geophysical Institute, 184209, Apatity, Russia

    A. S. Kirillov

  2. Space Research and Technology Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 6009, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria

    R. Werner & V. Guineva

Authors
  1. A. S. Kirillov
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  2. R. Werner
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  3. V. Guineva
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Correspondence to A. S. Kirillov.

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Translated by O. Zhukova

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Kirillov, A.S., Werner, R. & Guineva, V. Modeling Vibrational Populations of Metastable Molecular Nitrogen in Titan’s Atmosphere during the Precipitation of High-Energy Particles. Bull. Russ. Acad. Sci. Phys. 86, 335–342 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3103/S1062873822030108

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S1062873822030108

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