Chemistry and ro-vibrational excitation of HeH$^+$ in the Planetary Nebula NGC 7027

TL;DR

This study models the formation, destruction, and excitation of HeH$^+$ in the planetary nebula NGC 7027, revealing the importance of chemical pumping effects and providing improved constraints on physical conditions and reaction data.

Contribution

First comprehensive analysis of chemical pumping effects on HeH$^+$ excitation in NGC 7027 using updated reaction rates and non-LTE modeling with CLOUDY and RADEX.

Findings

RADEX and CLOUDY results agree within 20%.

Including the He + H reaction improves model accuracy.

Three observed lines are insensitive to chemical pumping.

Abstract

HeH$^+$ belongs to the class of "reactive" ions that can be destroyed so quickly that chemical formation and destruction rates may compete with inelastic rates and should be considered when solving the statistical equilibrium equations. This so-called chemical "pumping" or "excitation" effect is investigated here for the first time in HeH$^+$. The chemical evolution of HeH$^+$ in NGC 7027 is modeled with the CLOUDY photoionization code using updated reaction rate coefficients. The non-LTE analysis of the three observed HeH$^+$ emission lines is then performed with the CLOUDY and RADEX codes using an extensive set of spectroscopic and inelastic collisional data suitable for the specific high-temperature environment of NGC 7027. In a second approach, chemical formation and destruction rates of HeH$^+$ are implemented in RADEX. This code is combined with MCMC sampling (performed on the RADEX-parameters space) to extract the best-fit HeH$^+$ column density and physical conditions from the observed line fluxes. The CLOUDY and RADEX non-LTE results are found to be in good agreement, and the $\upsilon=1-0 \ P(2)/P(1)$ line ratio is better than 20%. Agreement to better than a factor of 2.3 is obtained when including the reaction between He($2^3S$) and H as an additional source of HeH$^+$. The RADEX/MCMC model with chemical pumping is found to reproduce both the observed line fluxes and the line ratio to 20%. Our results suggest that additional HeH$^+$ lines must be detected in NGC 7027 to better constrain the physical conditions via non-LTE models. Uncertainties in collisional (reactive and inelastic) data of HeH$^+$ have been largely reduced in this work. The three observed lines are not sensitive to chemical pumping while excited "short-lived" levels are significantly overpopulated with respect to a non-LTE model neglecting chemical excitation.