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Physical Review A

Formation of antiprotonic helium p¯He+ and ionization in low-energy collisions of p¯ with He in the ground 1S1 and metastable 2S3 and 2S1 states

Kazuhiro Sakimoto

Published Apr 9, 2015• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Calculations of low-energy collisions of antiprotons $\overline{p}$ with helium atoms in the ground $(1\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}^{1}\mathit{S})$ and metastable $(2\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}^{3}\mathit{S}$ and $2\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}^{1}\mathit{S})$ 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 $\overline{p}{\mathrm{He}}^{+}$ 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.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.91.042502

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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→p‾He++e)(\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{p}{\mathrm{He}}^{+}+e)(\ensuremath→p​He++e) and breakup ionization (\ensuremath→p‾+He++e)(\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{p}+{\mathrm{He}}^{+}+e)(\ensuremath→p​+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.
Antiproton capture by lithium atoms ($\overline{p}+\mathrm{Li}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{p}{\mathrm{Li}}^{+}+e$) is investigated at collision energies from 0.010.010.01 to 10 eV by using a semiclassical (also know as quantum-classical hybrid) method, in which the radial distance between the antiproton and the Li+{}^{+}+ ion is treated as a classical variable, and the other degrees of freedom are described by quantum mechanics. Analyzing the wave packet of the emitted electrons and making use of the energy conservation rule enable us to calculate the state distribution of the produced antiprotonic lithium p‾Li+\overline{p}{\mathrm{Li}}^{+}p​Li+ atoms and also to distinguish between the capture and ionization ($\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{p}+{\mathrm{Li}}^{+}+e$) channels at collisional energies above the ionization threshold. This method is tested for the capture of negative muons by hydrogen atoms, which was rigorously investigated in previous quantum mechanical studies. Most of the p‾Li+\overline{p}{\mathrm{Li}}^{+}p​Li+ atoms produced in p‾+Li\overline{p}+\mathrm{Li}p​+Li are found to be sufficiently stable against Auger decays and are experimentally observable as long-lived states. The present system bears close similarities to the system of p‾+He(2S)\overline{p}+\mathrm{He}(2S)p​+He(2S). It is therefore expected that long-lived antiprotonic helium p‾He+\overline{p}{\mathrm{He}}^{+}p​He+ atoms can be efficiently produced in the p‾\overline{p}p​ capture by metastable He(23S2\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{}^{3}S23S) atoms.
A semiclassical, many-body atomic model incorporating a momentum-dependent Heisenberg core to stabilize atomic electrons is used to study antiproton capture on helium. Details of the antiproton collisions leading to eventual capture are presented, including the energy and angular-momentum states of incident antiprotons which result in capture via single- or double-electron ionization, i.e., into He2+{\mathrm{He}}^{2+}He2+p\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{} or He+{\mathrm{He}}^{+}He+p\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}, and the distribution of energy and angular-momentum states following the Auger cascade. These final states are discussed in light of recently reported anomalously long-lived antiproton states observed in liquid He [Iwasaki et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 1246 (1991)].
Cold, two-body antiprotonic helium ions p‾ 4He2+\overline{p}\text{ }^{4}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{e}^{2+}p​ 4He2+ and p‾ 3He2+\overline{p}\text{ }^{3}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{e}^{2+}p​ 3He2+ with 100-ns-scale lifetimes, occupying circular states with the quantum numbers ni=28−−32{n}_{i}=28--32ni​=28−−32 and ${\ensuremath{\ell}}_{i}={n}_{i}\ensuremath{-}1$ have been observed. They were produced by cooling three-body antiprotonic helium atoms in an ultra-low-density helium target at temperature $T\ensuremath{\sim}10\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{K}$ by atomic collisions, and then removing their electrons by inducing a laser transition to an autoionizing state. The lifetimes of p‾ 3He2+\overline{p}\text{ }^{3}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{e}^{2+}p​ 3He2+ against annihilation induced by collisions were shorter than those of p‾ 4He2+\overline{p}\text{ }^{4}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{e}^{2+}p​ 4He2+, and decreased for larger-ni{n}_{i}ni​ states.