MOLECULAR UNIVERSE

The new experimental and theoretical data on chemical reaction rates, molecular excitation cross sections, and molecular spectroscopy will be made available to the whole community through databases accessible through Web interfaces. The Cologne Database for Molecular Spectroscopy (CDMS), which is already available on the web, contains predictions of spectroscopic transition frequencies and intensities with their uncertainties, concerning atoms and molecules of interest to the astronomical community. The frequency range currently covers the radio frequency to far-infrared regions. The BASECOL database (Meudon, U.J.F. and Bordeaux) for collisional ro-vibrational excitation of molecules by various colliders provides excitation rate coefficients, full information on the chain of errors of the data, and full bibliographical information. The consortium will make this database available at the European level. The UMIST database (Manchester) provides the fundamental set of reaction rate data and related software for use in chemical kinetic modelling of astronomical regions. The database will be extended to include photodissociation and photoionisation cross-sections, the chemistries of minor elements such as Mg and Li, and the synthesis of carbon chains and rings. In addition the current web interface will be improved to give more information on individual reactions and to allow a facility in which users can post new data, as well as comment on current data. The CASSIS project (Toulouse III and Madrid) will combine suitably calibrated and corrected molecular data from intelligent access of appropriate molecular databases with astrophysical models in order to provide the user with tools for the analysis of astrophysical spectra with high spectroscopic content.