Physics Colloquium
Friday, October 1st, 2004, 4:00 P.M.

Loris Magnani

University of Georgia

The CH 3335 MHz Transition - A New Way to Determine the Mass of Interstellar Molecular Clouds

The methylidine radical (CH) was one of the first molecules found in the interstellar medium in the late 1930’s. Despite a long history of observation and an empirically determined linear relationship with molecular hydrogen in low-density interstellar environments, the ²Π_1/2, J=1/2, Λ doublet state, main line (F=1-1) transition of interstellar CH at 3335 MHz has seldom been used as a molecular mass tracer in the Galaxy. In this talk, we will examine the astrochemical behavior of this species and why it can provide new insights in the study of molecular cloud.