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Incoming links: Jim Peebles
Jim Peebles Created 2026-10-24 Updated 2026-11-05
Jim Peebles calculated the recombination history of the early cosmic plasma. His treatment followed how electrons and protons form neutral hydrogen while the expanding background changes the conditions for atomic transitions.
An equilibrium abundance alone is insufficient when photons from atomic transitions are repeatedly reabsorbed and the expansion competes with reaction rates. Following this nonequilibrium history helps determine when the cosmic microwave background ceases to scatter efficiently. The calculation connects atomic physics to the observable last-scattering epoch.[ref]
Recombination of the Primeval Plasma by P. J. E. Peebles. Abstract and opening kinetic discussion: non-equilibrium recombination and cosmological radiation
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Portrait of Jim Peebles
. Juan Diego Soler; 17 May 2010; existing Commons crop and levels adjustment by WikiPedant. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source..jpg){kind=link}