Access via laboratory experiments to the level mixing effect induced by blackbody radiation and its influence on the cosmological hydrogen recombination problem

Abstract

An effect of atomic line broadening induced by the blackbody radiation is discussed. The level mixing effect and anti-Stokes Raman scattering are compared. It is shown that the mixing effect gives the most significant contribution to the line broadening and it is indicated how to distinguish these two effects in laboratory experiments. The influence of the level mixing on the recombination history of primordial plasma is also discussed.