Structure of Neutral Mesonic Atoms Formed in Liquid Helium
- 1 March 1970
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review A
- Vol. 1 (3), 721-734
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.1.721
Abstract
Wave functions and binding energies are calculated for some states of the , , and atoms in which the electron is in a orbit and in which the meson or the antiproton is in a circular or a nearly circular orbit with large principal quantum number . The results which are obtained in the present paper provide a basis for an estimate, described elsewhere, of the probability that atoms in some of these states can exist for an anomalously long time after being formed in liquid helium. Two methods are employed to calculate the wave functions and binding energies. A variational method which employs hydrogenic functions is used for states in which the meson is in a circular orbit. A more elaborate method, which makes use of the Born-Oppenheimer approximation and which is applicable to states with meson orbits which are not necessarily circular, is used for circular and nearly circular orbits of a few levels of the and atoms. It is found, in particular, that an or higher multipole transition is required for an Auger electron to be ejected by a meson in a circular orbit of the atom with . It is found that for levels of the atom with the magnitude of the energy difference between two states with the same value of , but with orbital angular momenta () and (), is roughly 0.5 eV. It is also found that, in some instances, replacing the absolute square of the meson wave function with a function does not significantly affect the accuracy of a calculation.
Keywords
This publication has 9 references indexed in Scilit:
- Auger Rates for Circular Orbits of,, andAtomsPhysical Review A, 1970
- Distortion of the Electron Wave Function in,, andAtomsPhysical Review A, 1970
- Interactions of anAtom with a He AtomPhysical Review B, 1969
- Metastable States of , , and AtomsPhysical Review Letters, 1969
- Moderation and Cascade Times of Negative Pions and Negative Kaons in Liquid HeliumPhysical Review B, 1965
- On the absorption of negative pions by liquid heliumPhysics Letters, 1964
- Moderation Time for Nuclear Capture of Negative Pions in LiquidPhysical Review Letters, 1963
- Experimental Study of the Cascade Time of Negative Mesons in a Liquid Helium Bubble ChamberPhysical Review Letters, 1963
- Suppression of-State Capture in () AtomsPhysical Review Letters, 1959