Two Flavors of Hydrogen Atoms: A Possible Explanation of Dark Matter

Eugene Oks

doi:10.3390/atoms8030033

Abstract

In one of our previous papers, it was shown that for the ground state of hydrogenic atoms/ions, it is possible to match the interior (inside the nucleus) solution of the Dirac equation with the singular exterior solution of the Dirac equation, so that the singular solution should not be rejected for the ground state of hydrogenic atoms/ions. In that paper, there was presented also the first experimental proof of the existence of this Alternative Kind of Hydrogen Atoms (AKHA)—by showing that the presence of the AKHA solves a long-standing mystery of the huge discrepancy between the experimental and previous theoretical results concerning the high-energy tail of the linear momentum distribution in the ground state of hydrogen atoms. In another paper, we showed that for hydrogen atoms, the singular solution of the Dirac equation outside the proton is legitimate not just for the ground state 12S1/2, but also for the states 22S1/2, 32S1/2 and so on: it is legitimate for all the discrete states n2S1/2. Moreover, the singular exterior solution is legitimate also for the l = 0 states of the continuous spectrum. In that paper, we demonstrated that the AKHA can be the basis for explaining the recent puzzling astrophysical observational results concerning the redshifted radio line 21 cm from the early Universe. Thus, there seems to be the astrophysical evidence of the existence of the AKHA—in addition to the already available observational proof of their existence from atomic experiments. In the present paper, we point out that the AKHA provide an alternative view on dark matter—without resorting to new subatomic particles or dramatically changing the existing physical laws. This is because due to the selection rules, the AKHA do not have state that can be coupled by the electric dipole radiation. We also reformulate the above theoretical results in terms that hydrogen atoms can have two flavors: one flavor corresponding to the regular solution outside the proton, another—to the singular solution outside the proton, both solutions corresponding to the same energy. Since this means the additional degeneracy, then according to the fundamental theorem of quantum mechanics, there should be an additional conserved quantity, which we call isohydrogen spin (isohyspin). Further atomic experiments for accurately measuring the high-energy tail of the linear momentum distribution in the ground state of hydrogen atoms, as well as further observational studies of the redshifted 21 cm radio line from the early Universe, could provide a further proof that dark matter or a part of it is the AKHA.

Highlights

Hydrogenic atoms/ions are the simplest quantum systems and were always considered as a test-bed for checking quantum theories versus observations
We reformulate the above theoretical results in terms that hydrogen atoms can have two flavors: one flavor corresponding to the regular solution outside the proton, another—to the singular solution outside the proton, both solutions corresponding to the same energy
The regular exterior solution corresponding to q = 1 − (1 − α2 )1/2, and the singular exterior solution corresponding to q = 1 + (1 − α2 )1/2 is legitimate not just for the ground state 12 S1/2, and for the states 22 S1/2, 32 S1/2 and so on

Summary

Introduction

Hydrogenic atoms/ions are the simplest quantum systems and were always considered as a test-bed for checking quantum theories versus observations. In [1], it was shown that the engagement of the singular solution for the GSHA yields for the HTMD an effective power law f As (p) ∝ 1/pk with the value of k noticeably smaller than 6, resolving the above long-standing mystery This fact constitutes the experimental proof that there are hydrogen atoms in the ground state described by the singular solution of the Dirac equation outside the proton. They deal with a new additional symmetry and the corresponding new additional conserved quantity

Brief Summary of the Results of our Previous Papers

Possible Explanation of Dark Matter

Two Flavors of Hydrogen Atoms

Conclusions