Abstract

Context. Hydrogen molecules (H2) come in two forms, ortho- and para-hydrogen, corresponding to the two different spin configurations of the two hydrogen atoms. The relative abundances of the two flavours in the interstellar medium are still very uncertain, and this abundance ratio has a significant impact on the thermal properties of the gas. In the context of star formation, theoretical studies have recently adopted two different strategies when considering the ortho:para ratio (OPR) of H2 molecules. The first considers the OPR to be frozen at 3:1, while the second assumes that the species are in thermal equilibrium at all temperatures.

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