Breit interaction in dielectronic recombination of hydrogenlike uranium

Abstract

Absolute rate coefficients for dielectronic recombination (DR) of H-like ${\mathrm{U}}^{91+}$ ions have been measured. The electron-ion merged-beam technique at a heavy-ion storage ring was employed using a stochastically cooled ion beam. Thereby, the previously accessible electron-ion collision energies could be greatly extended to the range 63--90 keV. High-resolution DR spectra were measured covering all $\mathit{KLL}$ and $\mathit{KLM}$ resonances. For the resonance strengths, excellent agreement between relativistic theory and experiment is found only if the Breit contribution to the electron-electron interaction is included in the calculations. For the $\mathit{KL}$${}_{1/2}$$L$${}_{1/2}$ and $\mathit{KL}$${}_{1/2}$$M$${}_{1/2}$ groups the Breit contribution amounts to 44% of their total resonance strengths.