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Description
The interpretation of water line emission from infrared and submillimetre observations requires a detailed knowledge of collisional rate coefficients over a wide range of levels and temperatures. We attempt to determine rotational and rovibrational rate coefficients for H_2_O colliding with both H_2_ and electrons in warm, molecular gas. Pure rotational rates are derived by extrapolating published data using a new method partly based on the information (phase space) theory of Levine and co-workers. Ro-vibrational rates are obtained using vibrational relaxation data available in the literature and by assuming a complete decoupling of rotation and vibration. Results. Rate coefficients were obtained for the lowest 824 ro-vibrational levels of H_2_O in the temperature range 200-5000K. Our data is expected to be accurate to within a factor of ~5 for the highest rates (>10^-11^cm^3^/s). Smaller rates, including the ro-vibrational ones, should be generally accurate to within an order of magnitude. As a first application of this data, we show that vibrationally excited water emission observed in evolved stars is expected to be at least partly excited by means of collisions.
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