Collisional energy exchange in CO2–N2 gaseous mixtures

The calculation of series of vibrational state-specific collision cross sections and rate coefficients over extended energy and temperature ranges is required to set up accurate kinetic models of gaseous mixtures under nonequilibium conditions, such as those encountered in hypersonic flows. Processes involving carbon oxides (particularly CO2 2 ) and N2 2 have to be included of models designed to simulate and interpret important aspects of the Earth and planetary atmospheres, also in connection to spacecraft’s entry problems, where hypersonics flows are involved. Here we summarize a theoretical approach to the calculation of energy transfer cross section and rates for CO2–N2 mixtures, based on classical trajectory simulations of the collision dynamics and on a bond-bond semi-empirical description of the intermolecular interaction, which includes the dependence of the intermolecular interaction on the monomer deformations.