Physical Review A
Ground state of the hydrogen molecule in a strong magnetic field
Yu. P. Kravchenko, M. A. Liberman
Abstract
The ground state of a hydrogen molecule in magnetic fields is investigated using a fully numerical Hartree-Fock approach. We found that between $4.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{4}$ T and $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}$ T the ground state is ${}^{3}{\ensuremath{\Sigma}}_{u}^{+}$ with very weak interaction between atoms. In this field region the hydrogen can form a superfluid phase, predicted earlier [Korolev and Liberman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 270 (1994)]; the state ${}^{3}{\ensuremath{\Pi}}_{u}$ is metastable and may be responsible for the unknown excitonic line observed by Timofeev and Chernenko [JETP Lett. 61, 617 (1995)]. For magnetic fields stronger than $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}$ T the ground state is the tightly bound ${}^{3}{\ensuremath{\Pi}}_{u}.$