THE DISSOCIATIVE RECOMBINATION OF MOLECULAR HYDROGEN IONS

$^{1}$ Dissociative Recombination: Theory, Experiment and Applications. (eds. J.B.A. Mitchell and S.L. Guberman). World Scientific, Singapore 1989.Author Institution: Department of Physics, The University of Western Ontario; Department of Physics, The University of Western OntarioRydberg states lying below the ground states of molecular ions play an important role in electron-ion recombination. Their presence is manifest in the form of resonances in the cross section in both theoretical and experimental $studies^{1}$. A review of recent studies on $H_{2}^{+}$ and $H_{3}^{+}$ recombination will be given. In the latter case, studies of the branching ratios for the various recombination channels have revealed that $H_{3}^{+}$ can act as an intermediate state in the recombination process. (Work supported by US AFOSR and Canadian NSERC)