Role of three-body correlations in recombination of spin-polarized atomic hydrogen

Abstract

We present results of a calculation of the volume rate constant Lgeff of dipole recombination in H↓↓, in which the bbb incoming state is determined exactly by means of the Faddeev formalism. Inclusion of all three-particle correlations in the initial state does not resolve the discrepancies between Kagan’s approach and experiment. As a first step towards an exact determination of the outgoing atom-molecule state, we present a calculation in which all three-particle collision aspects are taken into account, except for rearrangement. This leads to values for Lgeff, which are a factor of 5 smaller than experiment, while the B dependence of the rate constant still shows a slowly increasing behavior. On the basis of this state-of-the-art calculation, we thus localize the cause for the existing discrepancies in rearrangement processes.