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Physical Review A

Collisional quenching of antiprotonic helium atoms in gaseous helium

Boyan Obreshkov, D. Bakalov, Bruno Lepetit, Krzysztof Szalewicz

Published Apr 1, 2004• 17 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The cross sections and rates for quenching of thermalized antiprotonic helium atoms in binary collisions with ordinary helium atoms are calculated in perturbation theory and in the coupled-channel formalism at the temperature and the number density of the helium gas, $T=6\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}$ and $N={10}^{21}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\text{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$, respectively. It is shown that quenching is unlikely to be relevant for the metastable states of the antiprotonic helium atom with $32\ensuremath{\leqslant}n\ensuremath{\leqslant}40$. Comparison with experiment shows a good quantitative agreement for the $(n,l)=(39,35)$ state of antiprotonic helium and a large disagreement for the $(37,34)$ state. As a byproduct of this work, the existence of a series of bound states of the $\mathrm{He}--\overline{p}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{4}\mathrm{He}^{+}$ dimer is demonstrated numerically for $n\ensuremath{\geqslant}38$.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.69.042701

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Collisional quenching of antiprotonic helium atoms in gaseous helium (6 pages)

Boyan Obreshkov

Physical Review A•Jan 1, 2004•2 citations
The cross sections and rates for quenching of thermalized antiprotonic helium atoms in binary collisions with ordinary helium atoms are calculated in perturbation theory and in the coupled-channel formalism at the temperature and the number density of the helium gas, T=6KT=6\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{K}T=6K and N=1021cm\ensuremath−3N={10}^{21}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\text{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}N=1021cm\ensuremath−3, respectively. It is shown that quenching is unlikely to be relevant for the metastable states of the antiprotonic helium atom with 32\ensuremath⩽n\ensuremath⩽4032\ensuremath{\leqslant}n\ensuremath{\leqslant}4032\ensuremath⩽n\ensuremath⩽40. Comparison with experiment shows a good quantitative agreement for the (n,l)=(39,35)(n,l)=(39,35)(n,l)=(39,35) state of antiprotonic helium and a large disagreement for the (37,34)(37,34)(37,34) state. As a byproduct of this work, the existence of a series of bound states of the He−−p‾4He+\mathrm{He}--\overline{p}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}^{4}\mathrm{He}^{+}He−−p​4He+ dimer is demonstrated numerically for n\ensuremath⩾38n\ensuremath{\geqslant}38n\ensuremath⩾38.
Laser resonance transitions between normally metastable states of antiprotonic helium atoms were induced making use of state dependent quenching effects caused by trace admixtures of H2 to the target helium gas. With this method of “H2-assisted inverse resonances” the decay rates of the states (n,l)=(39,l),l=36,37,38, and (38,l),l=35,36,37 of p̄He+ were determined as a function of the H2 admixture. The quenching cross sections at 30 K deduced therefrom for the states with n=39 were found to be of the order of the geometrical cross section for p̄He+–H2 collisons (2⋅10−15 cm2), with a moderate decrease with increasing l. Within a given cascade with constant v=n−l−1, the quenching cross sections for states with n=38 are smaller by a factor of 4–6 than those for states with n=39.
We consider two types of collisional processes with excited antiprotonic helium systems. (i) Transitions between hyperfine structure sublevels in ( He + ) n LFJ are considered at T ≤ 25 K using the coupled-channels method and a model of scalar and tensor interactions between antiprotonic and ordinary He atoms. Inelastic cross sections for the single and double spin-flip transitions are less than elastic ones by four and seven orders of magnitude, respectively. The cross sections show a resonance behaviour at E ∼ 1–4 K, and therefore the relaxation rates, density shift and broadening of the M1 spectral lines decrease with increasing temperature from 3 to 25 K. (ii) Stark transitions and induced annihilation during collisions of the ( He 2+ ) nl ion with He atoms at E ∼ 10 K are considered for all l -states at n ∼ 30 in the framework of the coupled-channels method. In order to take into account complex energy shifts of the ns and np -states, we introduce modified boundary conditions in these channels. The main contribution to elastic scattering, Stark transitions and induced annihilations during collisions comes from the long-range polarization interaction. Admixtures of ns and np -states to nl -states ( l ≥ 2) during collisions induce the effective annihilation cross sections for the initial l up to 15, but don't affect the Stark cross sections for states with nearly-circular orbits. The calculated values for both types of processes are compatible with recent experimental data.
A laser spectroscopic method was developed to directly observe the lifetimes of individual states in metastable antiprotonic helium atoms (p‾4He+).(\overline{p}{}^{4}{\mathrm{He}}^{+}).(p​4He+). Collisional effects with surrounding helium atoms were studied in cryogenic gas targets at pressures between 0.1 and 9.0 bars and at temperatures between 5.5 and 7.0 K. The metastable state (n,l)=(39,35)(n,\mathcal{l})=(39,35)(n,l)=(39,35) showed a lifetime of 1.5 $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{s}$, regardless of density, whereas the lifetime of the energetically lower-lying state (37,34)(37,34)(37,34) was found to shorten from 1.3 to 0.1 $\ensuremath{\mu}$s with increasing density. The lifetimes of the states (38,34)(38,34)(38,34) and (36,33)(36,33)(36,33) were determined to be 10 ns and 5 ns, respectively, showing the effects of the internal Auger process. When extrapolated to zero density, the measured lifetimes agreed with the results of calculations for the radiative and Auger widths. Using the fact that the state (37,34)(37,34)(37,34) becomes short lived at high density, the resonance $(38,35)\ensuremath{\rightarrow}(37,34)$ at 529.62 nm was detected.
Calculations of low-energy collisions of antiprotons p‾\overline{p}p​ with helium atoms in the ground (11S)(1\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}^{1}\mathit{S})(11S) and metastable (23S(2\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}^{3}\mathit{S}(23S and 21S)2\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}^{1}\mathit{S})21S) states are carried out by using a semiclassical method and by further assuming that one of the two electrons is passive. Antiproton capture to form antiprotonic helium $(\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{p}{\mathrm{He}}^{+}+e)$ and breakup ionization $(\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{p}+{\mathrm{He}}^{+}+e)$ are investigated. The energy dependence of the capture and ionization cross sections and the distributions of the product states are presented and compared with previous theoretical calculations. For the metastable helium targets, most of the p‾He+\overline{p}{\mathrm{He}}^{+}p​He+ atoms produced in the capture have long lifetimes against subsequent Auger decays and can be observed experimentally. For the ground-state targets, however, the formation of such long-lived states is rather a rare event at low collision energies.
Collisions of metastable antiprotonic helium with atoms of a medium induce transitions between hyperfine structure sublevels as well as shifts and broadenings of the microwave M1 spectral lines. We consider these phenomena in the framework of a model with scalar and tensor interactions between and He atoms. S -matrix is obtained by solving coupled-channels equations involving 4 HFS sublevels ( F = L ± 1/2, J = F ± 1/2) of the nL level and relative angular momenta up to l = 5 at the kinetic energy E ≲ 25 K. The inelastic cross sections are less than elastic ones by four orders of value for the single electron or antiproton spin-flip transitions (Δ J = ±1, Δ F = 0, ± 1) and by seven orders of value for the double spin-flip transitions (Δ J = 0, ± 2, Δ F = ±1). The cross sections show a resonance behaviour at very low energy ( E ∼ 1–4 K). The results for the relaxation rate λ( F − → F + ), the frequency shift and broadening of the M1 spectral lines for the favoured transitions (Δ F = ±1, Δ J = ±1) are compatible with the recent experimental data obtained by a triple (laser–microwave–laser) resonance method at T = 6 K. The calculated values are lowered by a factor of 1.5–2 with the temperature rising up to 25 K.