Ion-atom-atom three-body recombination in cold hydrogen and deuterium plasmas

We present a detailed study about ion-atom-atom three-body recombination in hydrogen and deuterium plasmas based on classical trajectory calculations in hyperspherical coordinates. Our results, due to the predominant role of the long-range charged-induced dipole interaction, indicate that H$_2^+$ and D$_2^+$ are the main reaction products in the case of hydrogen and deuterium plasmas, respectively. Besides, we find a more steep energy-dependent reaction rate when the collision energy surpasses the dissociation energy of the molecular ion, thus entering a new dynamical regime dominated by short-range interactions.
Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted for publication as a Regular Article in Physical Review A