Physics Commons^™

Muonic Bound Systems, Virtual Particles, And Proton Radius, Ulrich D. Jentschura

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The proton radius puzzle questions the self-consistency of theory and experiment in light muonic and electronic bound systems. Here we summarize the current status of virtual particle models as well as Lorentz-violating models that have been proposed in order to explain the discrepancy. Highly charged one-electron ions and muonic bound systems have been used as probes of the strongest electromagnetic fields achievable in the laboratory. The average electric field seen by a muon orbiting a proton is comparable to hydrogenlike uranium and, notably, larger than the electric field in the most advanced strong-laser facilities. Effective interactions due to virtual annihilation …

Measurement Of The Formation Rate Of Muonic Hydrogen Molecules, V. A. Andreev, T. I. Banks, R. M. Carey, T. A. Case, S. M. Clayton, K. M. Crowe, J. Deutsch, J. Egger, S. J. Freedman, V. A. Ganzha, Tim Gorringe, F. E. Gray, D. W. Hertzog, M. Hildebrandt, P. Kammel, B. Kiburg, S. Knaack, P. A. Kravtsov, A. G. Krivshich, B. Lauss, K. R. Lynch, E. M. Maev, O. E. Maev, F. Mulhauser, C. Petitjean, G. E. Petrov, R. Prieels, G. N. Schapkin, G. G. Semenchuk, M. A. Soroka, Vladimir Tishchenko, A. A. Vasilyev, A. A. Vorobyov, M. E. Vznuzdaev, P. Winter

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Background: The rate λ_ppμ characterizes the formation of ppμ molecules in collisions of muonic pμ atoms with hydrogen. In measurements of the basic weak muon capture reaction on the proton to determine the pseudoscalar coupling g_P, capture occurs from both atomic and molecular states. Thus knowledge of λ_ppμ is required for a correct interpretation of these experiments.

Purpose: Recently the MuCap experiment has measured the capture rate Λ_S from the singlet pμ atom, employing a low-density active target to suppress ppμ formation [V. Andreev et al. (MuCap Collaboration), Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 012504 (2013) …

Long-Range Atom-Wall Interactions And Mixing Terms: Metastable Hydrogen, Ulrich D. Jentschura

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We investigate the interaction of metastable 2S hydrogen atoms with a perfectly conducting wall, including parity-breaking S-P mixing terms (with full account of retardation). The neighboring 2P_1/2 and 2P_3/2 levels are found to have a profound effect on the transition from the short-range, nonrelativistic regime, to the retarded form of the Casimir-Polder interaction. The corresponding P state admixtures to the metastable 2S state are calculated. We find the long-range asymptotics of the retarded Casimir-Polder potentials and mixing amplitudes for general excited states, including a fully quantum electrodynamic treatment of the dipole-quadrupole mixing term. The decay width of the …