The problem of “thermal explosion” in spin-polarized atomic hydrogen gas

Abstract

The exponential character of the depolarization-rate temperature dependence in spin-polarized atomic hydrogen gas results in a “thermal explosion” phenomenon with increasing density. The inhomogeneous heating is stimulated by the three-body recombination, which in allowance for dipole-dipole interaction takes place at arbitrary spin states of colliding particles. The critical gas density is found to be in the range of 10 18–10 19 cm −3 for the real parameters of the system.