Collisional excitation of methyl (iso)cyanide by He atoms: rate coefficients and isomerism effects

Abstract

Among all closed-shell species observed in molecular clouds, molecules with C$_{3v}$ symmetry play a crucial role, as their rotational spectroscopy allows them to behave as a gas thermometer. In the interstellar medium, methyl cyanide (CH$_3$CN) is the second most abundant of those (after ammonia, NH$_3$). Its isomer, methyl isocyanide (CH$_3$NC) is less abundant but has been detected in many astrophysical sources. In order to assess their absolute and relative abundances, it is essential to understand their collisional excitation properties. This paper reports the calculation of rate coefficients for rotational excitation of CH$_3$CN and CH$_3$NC molecules with He atoms, from low (5 K) to moderate (100 K) temperatures. We include the first 74 and 66 rotational states of both $para$ and $ortho$ symmetries of CH$_3$CN and CH$_3$NC, respectively. A propensity for $\Delta j=2$ transitions is observed in the case of CH$_3$CN-He collisions, whereas in the case of CH$_3$NC-He a propensity for $\Delta j=1$ is observed for transitions involving low values of $j$ and at low temperatures, while a propensity for $\Delta j=2$ is observed for higher values of $j$ and at high temperatures. A comparison of rate coefficients shows differences up to a factor of 3, depending on temperature and on the $ortho$/$para$ symmetries for dominant transitions. This confirms the importance of having specific collisional data for each isomer. We also examined the effect of these new rates on the CH$_3$CN and CH$_3$NC excitation in molecular clouds by performing radiative transfer calculations of the excitation and brightness temperatures for several detected lines.