The quantum theory of pressure broadening of rotational spectrum by three dimensional rigid rotator

Abstract

This paper is organized in the following way: Section I is the introduction; Section IA deals with historical surveys of spectral line shape and widths. A quick perusal of literature reveals that a number of classical and quantum mechanical theories have been developed in connection with the above problem. However, in this paper we leave the domain of precise molecular theories and focus attention on a simple schematic theory of the broadening of rotational lines by impacts.