Rotational dynamics of CNCN by p-H2 and o-H2 collision at interstellar temperatures

The rotational dynamics of isocyanogen (CNCN) is studied for its collision with para (p-) and ortho (o-) hydrogen (H2) in the temperature range of 1-100 K. These temperatures correspond to the cold dense molecular clouds in the interstellar medium where molecular hydrogen is the primary collider. An ab initio 4D potential energy surface (PES) is constructed keeping the two molecules under rigid rotor approximation. The PES is generated using the CCSD(T)-F12b/AVTZ level of theory. The 4D PES is further fitted into a neural network (NN) model, which can augment the surface and account for missing data points within spectroscopic accuracy. This NN-fitted PES is then expanded over a bispherical harmonics function to get radial terms, which are expressed into analytic functions. Thereafter, the cross sections (σ) are computed for rotational transitions of CNCN (j → j') using the close-coupling and centrifugal sudden methods for both p-H2 (jc = 0) and o-H2 (jc = 1) collision till 194 cm-1. In addition, p-H2 (jc = 0, 2) cross sections are also computed using the centrifugal sudden approximation method. The collisional rates are achieved by taking the Boltzmann distribution of σ over the translational energy of H2 till 100 K. Finally, the CNCN-H2 rates are compared to CNCN-He and NCCN-H2 collisional rates. Comparing even and odd transitions for the CNCN-H2 rates show a propensity toward higher rates for even transitions especially for o-H2 collisions considering low-order transitions.