Application of the Stogryn-Hirschfelder treatment of weak dimers to planetary atmospheres

Abstract The thermodynamics of carbon dioxide dimerization is treated as an example of the evaluation of weak dimer populations in planetary atmospheres (e.g., Mars and Venus). Two approaches considered are the Stogryn-Hirschfelder treatment using the Lennard-Jones interaction and calculations based on recent quantum chemical data. Several improvements of these treatments are developed. It is indicated that carbon dioxide dimers may be less or more abundant at the surfaces of Mars or Venus, respectively, than is suggested by previous calculations.