Far-infrared absorption in liquid nitrogen: a theoretical study

Abstract

We present a simple theory of the far-infrared collision-induced absorption spectrum of liquid nitrogen. Assuming a quadrupolar induction mechanism, and neglecting the small anisotropy in the N2 intermolecular potential, we represent the spectral profile as the convolution of a single-molecule free-rotation spectrum with an intermolecular translational component. Information theory is used to estimate the least-biased form for the latter, based on our knowledge of its zeroth and second spectral moments (the calculation of M0tr and M2tr is illustrated in the Appendix). In this way we avoid the need to make questionable assumptions about the system dynamics. Our theory contains no adjustable parameters, yet the computed line shapes are in excellent agreement with the available experimental data. Absolute intensities are underestimated by about 40%.