Basic expression for the rates of termolecular recombination and dissociation

Abstract

It is noted that the usual identification of the rate RA(t) for termolecular recombination at time t with the downward current past a bound energy level is appropriate to cases which involve energy distributions that satisfy the quasi-steady-state (QSS) condition to the exact master equation. A general expression for RA(t) is derived which is valid for both QSS and non-QSS distributions, such as those non-QSS distributions obtained from both the diffusional and variational methods or from numerical approximation to the exact QSS condition.