The process of recombination for the hydrogen atom in the heat bath creating the blackbody radiation is descibed within the frameworks of quantum electrodynamics. For this purpose the self-energy for unbound electron in the field of the nucleus is considered. The imaginary part of this self-energy is directly connected with the recombination cross-section. The same procedure is applied to the hydrogen atom in the field of blackbody radiation. This leads to the new thermal correction to the process of recombination for the hydrogen atom in the heat bath. This correction takes into account the finite lifetimes of atomic levels and appears to be important for special astrophysical studies.

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In the present paper, the correction of the recombination and ionization processes of the hydrogen atom due to the thermal interaction of two charges was considered. The evaluation was based on a rigorous quantum electrodynamic (QED) approach within the framework of perturbation theory. The lowest-order radiative correction to the recombination/ionization cross-section was examined for a wide range of temperatures corresponding to laboratory and astrophysical conditions. The found thermal contribution was discussed both for specific states and for the total recombination and ionization coefficients.

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