  We investigate deuteron formation in nuclear matter at finite temperatures
within a systematic quantum statistical approach. We consider formation through
three-body collisions relevant already at rather moderate densities because of
the strong correlations. The three-body in-medium reaction rates driven by the
break-up cross section are calculated using exact three-body equations
(Alt-Grassberger-Sandhas type) that have been suitably modified to consistently
include the energy shift and the Pauli blocking. Important quantities are the
lifetime of deuteron fluctuations and the chemical relaxation time. We find
that the respective times differ substantially while using in-medium or
isolated cross sections. We expect implications for the description of heavy
ion collisions in particular for the formation of light charged particles at
low to intermediate energies.
