How Can We Use Complete Experimental Catalogs in the Complex Spectra Limit?

Abstract

There is a broad consensus that many, if not most, of the unidentified spectral lines in astrophysical spectra are due to transitions in excited vibrational states of a relatively small number of molecules, the astrophysical weeds. For these unidentified lines, it is somewhat less well understood that the spectroscopic effort required to characterize them in the traditional quantum mechanical catalog approach is substantially larger because of significant perturbations. We have previously discussed a new experimental approach that addresses this challenge. This approach is based on the analysis of many complete, intensity-calibrated spectra taken over a range of temperatures. However, the spectroscopic completeness of this approach results in a much larger database. These data can be transfer to the astrophysical community in a variety of ways, but because an order of magnitude larger number of lines is included, consideration must be given to implementation strategies.