Physics – Atomic Physics
Scientific paper
Jun 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000aps..dmp..l947s&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, DAMOP Meeting, 14-June 17, 2000 Storrs, CT, abstract #L9.47
Physics
Atomic Physics
Scientific paper
We discuss the role played by dielectronic recombination (DR) in the intergalactic medium (IGM). Observations of the IGM are used to study the early universe. We have carried out a series of model calculations of the photoionized IGM to determine the effects on model predictions due to uncertainties in the published DR rate coefficients. Based on our previous experimental work and a comparison of published theoretical DR rates, we estimate there is in general a factor of 2 uncertainty in existing DR rates used for modeling the IGM. This translates into significant uncertainties in the inferred elemental abundances which are used to constrain the initial mass function of the earliest generation of stars. The atomic physics uncertainties also limit our ability to constrain the shape of the ionizing radiation field in the early universe which plays an important role in determining the thermal history of the universe. Laboratory measurements of the relevant DR resonance strengths and energies are the only unambiguous method to remove the effects of these atomic physics uncertainties from IGM studies.
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