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Ion‐ion recombination in dilute and dense plasmas
Author(s) -
Flannery M. R.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
international journal of quantum chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1097-461X
pISSN - 0020-7608
DOI - 10.1002/qua.560200874
Subject(s) - ion , recombination , ionization , atomic physics , plasma , chemistry , limiting , smoluchowski coagulation equation , boltzmann equation , distribution function , debye length , debye , physics , thermodynamics , statistical physics , quantum mechanics , mechanical engineering , biochemistry , organic chemistry , engineering , gene
Theory of ion‐ion recombination in a gas is provided as a function of gas density N , ion density N ± , and time. An approximate analytical solution to the generalized time‐dependent Debye‐Smoluchowski equation for reaction and diffusional drift under general ion‐ion field is provided for an initial Boltzmann distribution of ions. The transition in the time‐dependent rates α( t ) of recombination from reaction to the rate limiting step of reaction and transport is illustrated for various N , together with the variation of the steady‐state limit α with N . The method and results are of basic significance for situations ranging from medical radiological and biophysics to the rate of disappearance of ionization tracks.