  Experimental studies of electron-ion collision rates in an ultracold neutral
plasma (UNP) can be conducted through measuring the rate of electron plasma
oscillation damping. For sufficiently cold and dense conditions where strong
coupling influences are important, the measured damping rate was faster by 37\%
than theoretical expectations [W. Chen, C. Witte, and J. Roberts, Phys. Rev. E
\textbf{96}, 013203 (2017)]. We have conducted a series of numerical
simulations to isolate the primary source of this difference. By analyzing the
distribution of electron velocity changes due to collisions in a molecular
dynamics simulation, examining the trajectory of electrons with high deflection
angle in such simulations, and examining the oscillation damping rate while
varying the ratio of two-body to three-body electron-ion collision rates, we
have found that the difference is consistent with the effect due to many-body
collisions leading to bound electrons. This has implications for other
electron-ion collision related transport properties in addition to electron
oscillation damping.
