This paper presents an overview of the current status of the Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre (VAMDC) e-infrastructure, including the current status of the VAMDC-connected (or to be connected) databases, updates on the latest technological development within the infrastructure and a presentation of some application tools that make use of the VAMDC e-infrastructure. We analyse the past 10 years of VAMDC development and operation, and assess their impact both on the field of atomic and molecular (A&M) physics itself and on heterogeneous data management in international cooperation. The highly sophisticated VAMDC infrastructure and the related databases developed over this long term make them a perfect resource of sustainable data for future applications in many fields of research. However, we also discuss the current limitations that prevent VAMDC from becoming the main publishing platform and the main source of A&M data for user communities, and present possible solutions under investigation by the consortium. Several user application examples are presented, illustrating the benefits of VAMDC in current research applications, which often need the A&M data from more than one database. Finally, we present our vision for the future of VAMDC.
Spectroscopy has been crucial for our understanding of physical and chemical phenomena. The interpretation of interstellar line spectra with radiative transfer calculations usually requires two kinds of molecular input data: spectroscopic data (such as energy levels, statistical weights, transition probabilities, etc.) and collision data. This contribution describes how such data are collected, stored, and which limitations exist. Also, here we summarize challenges of atomic/molecular databases and point out our experiences, problems, etc., which we are faced with. We present overview of future developments and needs in the areas of radiative transfer and molecular data.
The emission of [O I] lines in the coma of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission have been explained by electron impact dissociation of water rather than the process of photodissociation. This is the direct evidence for the role of electron induced processing has been seen on such a body. Analysis of other emission features is handicapped by a lack of detailed knowledge of electron impact cross sections which highlights the need for a broad range of electron scattering data from the molecular systems detected on the comet. In this paper, we present an overview of the needs for electron scattering data relevant for the understanding of observations in coma, the tenuous atmosphere and on the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission. The relevant observations for elucidating the role of electrons come from optical spectra, particle analysis using the ion and electron sensors and mass spectrometry measurements. To model these processes electron impact data should be collated and reviewed in an electron scattering database and an example is given in the BEAMD, which is a part of a larger consortium of Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre—VAMDC.
In this contribution we present a progress report on two atomic and molecular databases, BEAMDB and MolD, which are web services at the Serbian virtual observatory (SerVO) and nodes within the Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Center (VAMDC). The Belgrade Electron/Atom (Molecule) DataBase (BEAMDB) provides collisional data for electron interactions with atoms and molecules. The Photodissociation (MolD) database contains photo-dissociation cross sections for individual rovibrational states of diatomic molecular ions and rate coefficients for the chemi-ionisation/recombination processes. We also present a progress report on the major upgrade of these databases and plans for the future. As an example of how the data from the BEAMDB may be used, a review of electron scattering from methane is described.
1 October 2016 in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
In this contribution we report the current stage of the MOLecular Dissociation (MOL-D) database which is a web service within the Serbian virtual observatory (SerVO) and node within Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Center (VAMDC). MOL-D is an atomic and molecular (A&M) database devoted to the modelling of stellar atmospheres, laboratory plasmas, industrial plasmas etc. The initial stage of development was done at the end of 2014, when the service for data connected with hydrogen and helium molecular ions was done. In the next stage of the development of MOL-D, we include new cross-sections and rate coefficients for processes which involve species such as XH+, where X is atom of some metal. Data are important for the exploring of the interstellar medium as well as for the early Universe chemistry and for the modeling of stellar and solar atmospheres. In this poster, we present our ongoing work and plans for the future.
1 October 2016 in Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
We present simulator of alerts for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) developed by Belgrade group. This simulator will be used in testing the functionality of external event brokers/Complex Event Processing (CEP) engines. It is based on current LSST Simulation framework and allows for different classes of objects to be ‘alerted’. A Web service based on our simulator is prototyped and can be accessed by developers of brokers/CEP engines.