Molecular-dynamics simulation of electron-ion recombination in a nonequilibrium, weakly ionized plasma

Electron-ion recombination in a weakly ionized molecular gas has been studied by the application of molecular-dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations. Plasma screening effects have been investigated for electron densities exceeding 10¹³ cm^-3. Screening can reduce the recombination rate coefficient α by as much as one half, for nₑ=10¹⁵ cm^-3, before α increase again with nₑ due to electron-stabilized three-body collisional radiative recombination. In a plasma with an applied electric field, α is found to decrease approximately proportional to (E/N)^-1 for E/N greater than a threshold value.