A variational method for studying the photodissociation of triatomic molecules

The photodissociation of molecules is becoming an increasingly important factor to consider in the evolution of exoplanets' atmospheres orbiting around UV-rich stars, as it leads to the enrichment of atmospheric complexity. A new method has been developed for computing the rotationally and vibrationally resolved photodissociation spectrum of triatomic molecules. The time-independent Schr\"{o}dinger equation is solved using the variational nuclear motion program \textsc{Everest}; \textsc{Exocross} is employed to compute the cross sections by applying Gaussian smoothing to a the set of discrete transitions into the continuum. HCN is chosen as the test molecule, as it has been widely studied in the literature. Results are compared with the available experiments. The temperature dependence is explored for temperatures up to 3000 K.