Three-Body Recombination of Oxygen Atoms

Abstract

We have made a quantum mechanical perturbed stationary state calculation of the rate of three‐body recombination of oxygen atoms in the presence of an oxygen molecule as third body. The recombination is considered to take place into highly vibrationally excited states (ν=9, 10) of the A ³Σ_u⁺ state of O₂. There are no adjustable parameters in the calculation. For the interaction potential we have used the results obtained in a previous calculation, which were obtained by comparison with experimental measurements of vibrational relaxation times in oxygen. At temperatures of the order 300–3000°K, the calculated recombination coefficient into these two states is of the order 1–10×10^—33 cm⁶/sec, and agrees to within better than a factor of three with recent experimental measurements.