THE LYMAN BANDS OF MOLECULAR HYDROGEN

Abstract

The Lyman bands of H2 have been investigated under high resolution with a view to improving the rotational and vibrational constants of H2 in its ground state. Precise Bv and ΔG values have been obtained for all vibrational levels of the ground state. One or two of the highest rotational levels of the last vibrational level (v = 14) lie above the dissociation limit. Both the [Formula: see text] and ΔG″ curves have a point of inflection at about v″ = 3. This makes it difficult to represent the whole course of each of these curves by a single formula and therefore makes the resulting equilibrium constants somewhat uncertain. This uncertainty is not very great for the rotational constants for which we find[Formula: see text]but is considerable for the vibrational constants ωe and ωexe for which three-, four-, five-, and six-term formulae give results diverging by ± 1 cm−1. The rotational and vibrational constants for the upper state [Formula: see text] of the Lyman bands are also determined. An appreciable correction to the position of the upper state is found.