Dependence of the scattering length for hydrogen atoms on effective mass

Abstract

The possibility that the non-adiabatic correction to the scattering length of a pair of hydrogen atoms interacting via the ground state molecular potential, X1Σg +, of H2 could be made by replacing the mass of each nucleus by a different effective mass is explored. The Born-Oppenheimer potential with adiabatic, relativistic and radiative corrections is used in calculations of the scattering lengths and the mass-dependent shifts of the rotationless vibrational levels with fixed and varying effective masses. The shifts are compared with established values and it is demonstrated that the semi-classical formula for the scattering length accounts well for the effect of changing the mass. A perturbing potential that is equivalent to a change in mass is derived and it is compared to a published local non-adiabatic potential.