Electric field effects on dielectronic recombination in a collisional-radiative model

We have carried out quantal calculations for the dielectronic recombination of C(3+) in an electric field. We have used these results in a collisional-radiative model for a carbon seeded hydrogen plasma. We find that the plasma microfield increases the effective dielectronic recombination rate coefficient for C(3+) by only 40 percent at n(H) = 10 exp 9/cu cm, for example, compared to the near factor of 3 enhancement predicted by Reisenfeld et al. (1992). The large effects predicted by Reisenfeld et al. over a wide range of densities are the result of an overestimation of the electric field enhancement of dielectronic recombination by their approximate calculations.