HIGH-PRECISION COULOMB THREE-BODY CALCULATION OF ANTIPROTONIC HELIUM ATOMS

Abstract

Using the non-adiabatic coupled rearrangement channel method, energy levels of metastable states of antiprotonic helium atoms are precisely calculated. A dual character of the atom is effectively described with atomic and molecular type coordinate systems. By introducing three rearrangement channels, correlation effects in the three-body system has been sufficiently incorporated. The complex coordinate rotation method is employed to take a resonant boundary condition of metastable states into account. The relativistic and QED corrections are considered with the first order perturbation theory. Calculated transition frequencies are in excellent agreement with observed values. This agreement gives best limit of the antiproton mass with 54 ppb uncertainty. This uncertainty is estimated by calculated transition frequencies with the antiproton mass slightly shifted from the proton mass.