Understanding global infrared opacity and hot bands of greenhouse molecules with low vibrational modes from first-principles calculations: the case of CF4

Fluorine containing molecules have a particularly long atmospheric lifetime and their very big estimated global warming potentials are expected to rapidly increase in the future. This work is focused on the global theoretical prediction of infrared spectra of the tetrafluoromethane molecule that is considered as a potentially powerful greenhouse gas having the largest estimated lifetime of over 50 000 years in the atmosphere. The presence of relatively low vibrational frequencies makes the Boltzmann population of the excited levels important. Consequently, the “hot bands” corresponding to transitions among excited rovibrational states contribute significantly to the CF4 opacity in the infrared even at room temperature conditions but the existing laboratory data analyses are not sufficiently complete. In this work, we construct the first accurate and complete ab initio based line lists for CF4 in the range 0–4000 cm−1, containing rovibrational bands that are the most active in absorption. An efficient basis set compression method was applied to predict more than 700 new bands and subbands via variational nuclear motion calculations. We show that already at room temperature a quasi-continuum of overlapping weak lines appears in the CF4 infrared spectra due to the increasing density of bands and transitions. In order to converge the infrared opacity at room temperature, it was necessary to include a high rotational quantum number up to J = 80 resulting in 2 billion rovibrational transitions. In order to make the cross-section simulation faster, we have partitioned our data into two parts: (a) strong & medium line lists with lower energy levels for calculation of selective absorption features that can be used at various temperatures and (b) compressed “super-line” libraries of very weak transitions contributing to the quasi-continuum modelling. Comparisons with raw previously unassigned experimental spectra showed a very good accuracy for integrated absorbance in the entire range of the reported spectra predictions. The data obtained in this work will be made available through the TheoReTS information system (http://theorets.univ-reims.fr, http://theorets.tsu.ru) that contains ab initio born line lists and provides a user-friendly graphical interface for a fast simulation of the CF4 absorption cross-sections and radiance under various temperature conditions from 80 K to 400 K.