CH+ potential energy curves and photodissociation cross-section

Accurate CH+ ab initio potential energy curves were calculated. The quality of the potentials was checked by comparing experimental and calculated CH+ absorption cross-sections for various rotational transitions. The relative importance of couplings and corrections to the Born–Oppenheimer approximation was studied. When relativistic corrections were included and core electrons also correlated, good agreement was achieved between the experiment and the theory for the photodissociation cross-section. The new potentials were used to calculate the radiative association cross-section.