The Faddeev approach applied to antihydrogen formation

Abstract

The differential cross sections for antihydrogen formation, in ground and excited states, from energetic antiproton–positronium collisions are computed analytically, using the Faddeev formalism in a second-order approximation. At the considered range of the impact energy, the second-order terms corresponding to the classical Thomas double-scattering processes are dominant. It is also shown that there exists a dynamical interference between two of the second-order partial amplitudes. Both amplitudes correspond to classical double-collision mechanisms in which the laboratory critical angle is 0.54 mrad. The interference between these amplitudes is approximately destructive for the capture into s-states with even parity.