The STARK-B database VAMDC node: A repository for spectral line broadening and shifts due to collisions with charged particles

Accurate spectroscopic diagnostics and modeling require the knowledge of numerous collisional line profiles. Access to such data via an online database has become indispensable. The STARK-B database is aimed at meeting these needs for widths and shifts of isolated lines of neutral and ionized elements due to electron and ion impacts. This database of the Paris Observatory is a result of scientific cooperation between S Sahal-Bréchot (LERMA) and M S Dimitrijević (AOB). Access to it is free, and it was opened online at the end of 2008. STARK-B is a node of the Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre (VAMDC) and thus complies with VAMDC and Virtual Observatory standards. VAMDC is a European Union-funded collaboration among groups involved in the generation and use of interoperable atomic and molecular data. STARK-B now contains all our semiclassical-perturbation (SCP) calculated data for more than 123 neutral or ionized elements as published in international refereed journals. It is devoted to modeling and spectroscopic diagnostics of stellar atmospheres and envelopes, laboratory plasmas, laser equipment, and technological plasmas. Hence, the range of temperatures and densities covered by the tables is broad and depends on the ionization degree of the radiating atom. The modified semiempirical (MSE) results of calculations have begun to be implemented. In this paper, we highlight the key points of the method and the assumptions used in the calculations, which have lately been revisited. Then we present the database and its recent developments, as well as our ongoing work and our plans for the future.