Is the dissociative recombination of H3(+) really slow? A new spectroscopic measurement of the rate constant

Abstract

The dissociative rate constant for H3(+) occupies a key role in model calculations of the interstellar chemical evolution. The decay of an infrared absorption signal of H3(+) was measured as a function of time, and the decay curve was analyzed and found to fit very well to the form expected for a recombination decay. The signal decay is attributed to the dissociative recombination with electrons, and the rate constant was determined to be (1./8 + or - 0.2) x 10 to the -7th cu cm/s, which disagrees with the recent value obtained with the flowing afterglow/Langmuir probe technique.