Help!!! Theory for H₃⁺ recombination still needed

Department of Chemistry and Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, 5735 South Ellis Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Published online: 29 January 2015

Abstract

In spite of the great progress in theoretical and experimental studies of the dissociative recombination (DR) of H₃⁺ in the last decade, there still remain apparent discrepancies between them. They are counted out and the effect of magnetic fields used in the storage ring experiments is considered as a possible cause of the discrepancy. In addition, the high internal temperature of H₃⁺ revealed by experiments at the Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics suggests a possibility that the current value of the DR rate constant may still be off by a significant factor.

In the meantime, the importance of the DR of in the H₃⁺ diffuse interstellar medium has grown further as astronomical observations of H₃⁺ developed rapidly in the last decade. It has been established that H₃⁺ is the best probe to measure intensities of low energy cosmic rays. The rate constant for the DR of H₃⁺ is crucial in the measurement. We still desperately need the theory for the dissociative recombination of H₃⁺!