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The Lorentzian line is characterized by having a very sharp narrow peak with most of the intensity of the peak located in the tails (or "wings") which extend into infinity. The "natural" line shape in spectroscopy is Lorentzian. After the initial excitation, the location of the energy level of the excited state is not known exactly, some uncertainty remains in the excitation response. Depending upon the length of time the molecule resides in the excited state, it influences the width of the Lorentzian line. As the lifetime of the excited state approaches the transition frequency, the broadening of the line becomes more severe, but still maintaining the Lorentzian line shape shown in the figure below. where X0 = position H = height W = FWHH

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