Hydrogen atom in the instantaneous van der Waals potential: Pitchfork bifurcation and ro-vibrational structure of the energy spectrum

  1. Simonovie, N.S. 2
  2. Salas, J.P. 1
  1. 1 Universidad de La Rioja
    info

    Universidad de La Rioja

    Logroño, España

    ROR https://ror.org/0553yr311

  2. 2 Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems
    info

    Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems

    Dresde, Alemania

    ROR https://ror.org/01bf9rw71

Revista:
Physics Letters, Section A: General, Atomic and Solid State Physics

ISSN: 0375-9601

Año de publicación: 2001

Volumen: 279

Número: 5

Páginas: 379-384

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1016/S0375-9601(01)00010-X SCOPUS: 2-s2.0-0035809072 WoS: WOS:000166970700016 GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Otras publicaciones en: Physics Letters, Section A: General, Atomic and Solid State Physics

Repositorio institucional: lock_openAcceso abierto Editor

Resumen

We present a semiclassical study of the energy spectrum of a Rydberg hydrogen atom in the instantaneous van der Waals potential. The results are in good agreement with those obtained by the first-order quantum perturbation theory. Both the semiclassical and the quantum calculations show that vibrational energy levels disappear when the magnetic quantum number |m| increases. This fact is well explained in the framework of classical dynamics of this system for which the pitchfork bifurcation takes place at critical value |m|/n =√5/7. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V.