.. _physics-atomicExcitationRateCollisional:

Atomic Collisional Excitation
=============================

Class providing collisional excitation cooling rates (in J m\ :math:`^3` s\ :math:`^{-1}`) for ions of given atomic number and ionization state at a specified electron temperature. Collisional excitation followed by radiative de-excitation is a key coolant for warm ionized gas at temperatures of :math:`10^4`--:math:`10^5` K, particularly for metal ions such as oxygen and carbon.

**Default implementation:** ``atomicExcitationRateCollisionalScholzWalters1991``

Methods
-------

``coolingRate`` → ``double precision``
   Return the collisional excitation cooling rate , in units of J m\ :math:`^3` s\ :math:`^{-1}`, for ion of given ``atomicNumber`` and ``electronNumber`` at temperature ``T`` (in Kelvin).

   * ``integer , intent(in ) :: atomicNumber, electronNumber``

   * ``double precision, intent(in ) :: temperature``

.. _physics-atomicExcitationRateCollisionalScholzWalters1991:

``atomicExcitationRateCollisionalScholzWalters1991``
----------------------------------------------------

Atomic collisional excitation using the fitting functions of :cite:t:`scholz_collisional_1991`.

**(Default implementation)**