PRESSURE BROADENING OF ROTATIONAL LINES.

A computational framework was developed which, judiciously applied, can treat the problem of the change in the absorption intensity function with temperature and pressure, given an intermolecular potential. Conversely, experimental results may be analyzed with the goal of calculating the constants in the interaction potential. The present analysis lends itself to a detailed study of the effect of the various approximations entering into linebroadening theory, and may aid in the development of higher-order treatments based upon the assessment of underlying assumptions in current treatments. The further goals of this work include the description of the details of the pressure broadening of microwave spectral lines, for example, frequency shifts, breadths and the first few moments of the intensity function, which will diagnose the asymmetry of the line. The basis of this description is the further analysis of the intensity function derived via a direct calculation of the Heisenberg matrix elements. One may then seek further a simple means of evaluating the constants of the intermolecular potential by the experimental values for the frequency shift and the line-shape parameters. Author