Plasma effects in three-body recombination of high-Z bare ions with electrons

The influence of plasma effects on three-body recombination of bare ions wi th electrons in cold plasma in the electron cooler is discussed in context of recombination "enhancement" observed in storage ring experiments. We sho w that for high-Z bare ions and low electron temperatures and densities the cooler plasma becomes "nonideal" leading to the enhancement of the three-b ody recombination rates. This effect is described in terms of the Debye scr eening length within the "rigid shift" approximation. We demonstrate, that in cold (T approximate to 1-10 K) anisotropic plasma the screening effect s ubstantially enhances the three-body recombination rates for very high n-st ates. The relaxation of high Rydberg states below the field ionization cut- off, set in storage ring experiments, is discussed. The calculations are co nfronted with the experimental results obtained in storage ring experiments .