Applications of Atomic and Molecular Physics to Astrophysics

Abstract

The range of physical conditions of density, temperature, and radiation fields encountered in astrophysical environments is extreme and can rarely be reproduced in a laboratory setting. It is not only reliable data on known processes that are needed but also a deep understanding so that the relevant processes can be identified and the influence of the conditions in which they occur fully taken into account. We present here a summary of the processes that take place in photoionized gas, collisionally ionized gas, the diffuse interstellar medium, molecular clouds, circumstellar shells, supernova ejecta, shocked regions and the early Universe.