1981/02/28 by H. Herold, H. Ruder, G. Wunner · 1 voice
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
paper · doi:10.1088/0022-3700/14/4/022
openalex publication_date 1981/02/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
For arbitrary gauge the authors derive the generalised momentum operator for an N-body system with a momentum-independent and translationally invariant interaction in a homogeneous magnetic field. When they specialise to neutral two-body systems the separation of the centre-of-mass and relative coordinates can be carried out explicitly. In order to reveal the global properties of the energy spectrum, the classification, quantum numbers, degeneracy, etc, are discussed for the non-interacting case and for a harmonic interaction. The hydrogen atom is chosen for studying in detail the physically important case of a Coulomb interaction. The essential results of this first consistent treatment of the hydrogen atom in strong magnetic fields as a genuine two-body problem are (i) the non-trivial reaction of the collective motion of the system transverse to the magnetic field on the internal state, and (ii) the non-negligible' effects of the finite proton mass on the energy spectrum for B>or approximately=10 11 G, which is at variance with the customary, widely held, view.