arXiv:1307.4810 · Physical Review Letters
Stable He− can Exist in a Strong Magnetic Field
Alexander V. Turbiner, Juan Carlos Lopez Vieyra
Abstract
The existence of bound states of the system ($\ensuremath{\alpha}$, $e$, $e$, $e$) in a magnetic field $B$ is studied using the variational method. It is shown that for $B\ensuremath{\gtrsim}0.13\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{a}.\mathrm{u}.$ this system gets bound with total energy below the one of the ($\ensuremath{\alpha}$, $e$, $e$) system. It manifests the existence of the stable ${\mathrm{He}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ atomic ion. Its ground state is a spin doublet $^{2}(\ensuremath{-}1{)}^{+}$ at $0.74\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{a}.\mathrm{u}.\ensuremath{\gtrsim}B\ensuremath{\gtrsim}0.13\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{a}.\mathrm{u}.$ and it becomes a spin quartet $^{4}(\ensuremath{-}3{)}^{+}$ for larger magnetic fields. For $0.8\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{a}.\mathrm{u}.\ensuremath{\gtrsim}B\ensuremath{\gtrsim}0.7\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{a}.\mathrm{u}.$ the ${\mathrm{He}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ ion has two (stable) bound states $^{2}(\ensuremath{-}1{)}^{+}$ and $^{4}(\ensuremath{-}3{)}^{+}$.