Dielectronic recombination in a magnetic field

Abstract

The effect of magnetic fields up to 100 T on the dielectronic recombinations of helium ions has been calculated. Below 5 T the rate is unaltered because of a cancellation of effects. At higher fields the rate does fall off slowly. Preliminary calculations including the Lorentz electric field appropriate to 3.4 MeV ions reveal similar behaviour. Contrary to simple intuition, the rate in an electric field is not greatly reduced by Stark ionisation.