Non-standard mechanism of recombination in the early Universe

ABSTRACT In our recent papers, a non-standard quasi-molecular mechanism was suggested and applied to treat the cosmological recombination. It was assumed that, in the pre-recombination stage of evolution of the Universe, an electron combined with two neighbouring protons and created a hydrogen molec...

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Veröffentlicht in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2022-01, Vol.509 (2), p.1755-1763
Hauptverfasser: Kereselidze, Tamaz, Noselidze, Irakli, Ogilvie, John F
Format: Artikel
Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:ABSTRACT In our recent papers, a non-standard quasi-molecular mechanism was suggested and applied to treat the cosmological recombination. It was assumed that, in the pre-recombination stage of evolution of the Universe, an electron combined with two neighbouring protons and created a hydrogen molecular ion, $\mathrm{ H}_2^+$ in a highly excited state, which then descended into the lower lying state or dissociated. In this work, we implement a quantitative analysis of this quasi-molecular mechanism of recombination; namely, we elaborate the scheme of calculation for a free–bound radiative transition. We show that the quasi-molecular mechanism played a significant role in the pre-recombination and recombination stages of evolution of the early Universe, and hence must be included into the consideration of the description of a thermal history of the Universe. Together with the earlier developed treatment of bound–bound radiative transitions in $\mathrm{ H}_2^+$, the elaborated scheme of calculation can be used for the design of a rapid and complete cosmological recombination code.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stab3102