Vibrational disequilibrium in low pressure clouds

Abstract

Steady state vibrational populations of SiO and CO in several dilute blackbody radiation fields have been calculated as a function of total pressure, kinetic temperature, and chemical composition of the gas. An approximate calculation for polyatomic molecules has also been carried out. Vibrational disequilibrium becomes increasingly significant as the total pressure and radiation density decrease. Many regions of postulated grain formation are found to be far out of thermal equilibrium before the onset of condensation. The use of classical nucleation theory and equilibrium thermodynamics to predict the onset of condensation and the composition of the solids or the molecular composition of the gas phase in such regions therefore is very questionable and needs to be examined for each case.