Three-body recombination of hydrogen in the early Universe

Flower, DR

Abstract

It has been suggested recently that three-body recombination of two protons and an electron might be significant in the formation of atomic hydrogen in the early Universe. We demonstrate that this process is completely negligible in the primordial plasma and that the value of the redshift, at which the transition from ionized to atomic hydrogen occurs, is determined by an equilibrium between the rates of two-body radiative recombination of a proton and an electron and its inverse, namely photoionization of atomic hydrogen.

Citation

Flower, D. (2023). Three-body recombination of hydrogen in the early Universe. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 523(1), https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slad047

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 5, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Apr 25, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: May 16, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: May 16, 2023
• Journal: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
• Electronic ISSN: 1745-3933
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 523
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slad047
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1173821