Commission 14 : Atomic and Molecular Data (Donnees Atomiques et Moleculaires)

Abstract

Since its creation, the Commission has been keen on activating the cross-discipline interaction between astrophysics and atomic and molecular physics. The need for a variety of atomic and molecular data has become more and more important for the recent past years. This need will certainly increase still more in the next years, due to the creation of new ground based instruments and to the launch of new space missions : they will produce large amounts of high resolution spectra from the X-rays to the infrared and millimeter wavelengths involving many atoms, ions and molecules. At the 1988 Baltimore meeting there was a general consensus that the aim of the Commission is to watch over the atomic and molecular spectral and structure data, together with the energy exchange processes in atomic and molecular physics relevant for astrophysics. In particular, the Commission is concerned by the interactions between photons and atoms (or ions or molecules), including wavelengths and line transition probabilities data, and by the interactions between particles, including atomic, molecular, ionic and electronic collision cross-sections, and by related phenomena, such as line broadening, collisional redistribution of radiation and line polarization. All these informations are essential for the interpretation of astronomical observations, such as spectroscopic diagnosis and theoretical modelling of astrophysical media.