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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Impact of the strong force on the Coulombic decay of a hydrogen–antihydrogen molecule

P. Berggren, Henrik Stegeby, Alexei Yu. Voronin, Piotr Froelich

Published Jul 24, 2008• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The lifetime of the meta-stable hydrogen-antihydrogen molecule in various vibrational states is calculated.The partial lifetime with respect to the proton-antiproton annihilation is obtained from complex eigenvalues which arise upon inclusion of the strong force in the adiabatic formulation of the molecular decay problem.We study the influence of the strong force, which causes annihilation, on the transition probability for decay via Coulombic rearrangement to protonium and positronium.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/41/15/155202

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We report a theoretical study of antihydrogen-hydrogen molecular resonance states consisting of a positron, an antiproton, an electron and a proton. The four particles strongly correlate and show different character from the hydrogen molecule. Because of the non-separability of the positron and electron motions from the antiproton and proton motions, the adiabatic approximation breaks down at the short antiproton-proton distance. Based on a non-adiabatic method, we directly solve the four-body problem and obtain the resonance energies and widths. In order to examine the roles of positron–antiproton and electron–proton correlations as well as positron–electron and antiproton–proton correlations, we introduce two different types of coordinate systems. One is suited for describing an antihydrogen–hydrogen configuration, and the other is a positronium–protonium configuration. The antihydrogen–hydrogen configuration contributes to the existence of the molecular resonance states, and the positronium–protonium configuration makes the resonance states unstable. Mixing of the two configurations results in an antihydrogen-hydrogen molecular resonance state, and the resonance state has an energy of −0.077 9(3) a.u. from the antihydrogen–hydrogen dissociation threshold with its lifetime 16 (2) fs.
Calculations of leptonic and hadronic annihilation rates in the hydrogen-antihydrogen molecule are presented. Both the leptonic potential and leptonic wave function are evaluated within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation employing the Ritz variational principle. Nonadiabatic corrections to the leptonic potential are also obtained. Explicitly correlated Gaussians are employed as basis functions, which describe accurately the hydrogen-antihydrogen interaction. Given the leptonic potential the hadronic part of the wave function for each molecular level of the hydrogen-antihydrogen quasimolecule is calculated by solving the corresponding Schr\"odinger equation by means of precise BBB-spline representations. The decay rates of the quasimolecule into separate positronium and protonium systems are estimated for a number of molecular levels. Utilizing the leptonic and hadronic wave functions the leptonic- and hadronic-annihilation rates for different molecular levels are computed.
The stability of antimatter in contact with matter has been investigated. The interaction between hydrogen and antihydrogen is considered as the prototype reaction. We have focused interest on the rates for proton-antiproton and/or electron-positron annihilation during hydrogen-antihydrogen collisions at low energies. In particular, we have concentrated on the calculation of the rates for the rearrangement reaction leading to formation of protonium and positronium, ending inevitably in particle-antiparticle annihilation. The cross section for the rearrangement collision has been calculated in a fully quantum-mechanical treatment. Additionally, we have calculated cross sections for direct annihilation during the collision process, which was found to be comparable to the rearrangement cross section. The elastic cross section and its low-energy limit, given by the scattering length, have been calculated, allowing, by comparison to the inelastic processes, a prediction for the efficiency of cooling antihydrogen via collisions with ultracold hydrogen atoms.
A description of the excited lepton states of the hydrogen-antihydrogen quasimolecule is presented. Potential energy curves and the leptonic part of the wave functions corresponding to a variety of such states are calculated within the Born-Oppenheimer approximation employing the Ritz variational principle. Nonadiabatic corrections to the leptonic potentials are also obtained. Basis functions are constructed as products of explicitly correlated Gaussians and spherical harmonics which describe correctly the motion of leptons with arbitrary orbital angular momentum projection onto the molecular (internuclear) axis. The hadronic part of the wave function for each leptonic level of the hydrogen-antihydrogen system is calculated by solving the Schr\"odinger equation with the obtained leptonic potentials. Corresponding solutions are generated utilizing precise B-spline representations. Employing leptonic and hadronic parts of the wave function the electron-positron and proton-antiproton annihilation rates are computed for a number of quasimolecular states. The decay rates of the hydrogen-antihydrogen system into separate positronium and protonium atoms are also estimated for the quasimolecular levels under consideration.
Matter-antimatter interactions are investigated using hydrogen-antihydrogen collisions as an example. Cross sections for elastic scattering and for the antihydrogen loss (either through the rearrangement reaction, resulting in formation of protonium and positronium according to $\mathrm{H}+\overline{\mathrm{H}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}p\overline{p}{+e}^{+}{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, or via annihilation in flight) are calculated for the first time in a fully quantum mechanical approach. Implications for experiments intending to trap and cool antihydrogen are discussed.