Peculiar Features of the Interaction Potential between Hydrogen and Antihydrogen at Intermediate Separations

TL;DR

This paper investigates the interaction potential between hydrogen and antihydrogen atoms, revealing unique features such as a shallow local minimum and a barrier at specific intermediate separations, using second-order perturbation theory.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed theoretical analysis of the H-Hbar interaction potential, highlighting peculiar features not previously characterized.

Findings

Presence of a shallow local minimum at ~6 a.u.

Existence of a barrier around 5 a.u.

Potential implications for future experimental studies.

Abstract

We evaluate the interaction potential between a hydrogen and an antihydrogen using the second-order perturbation theory within the framework of the four-body system in a separable two-body basis. We find that the H-Hbar interaction potential possesses the peculiar features of a shallow local minimum located around interatomic separations of r ~ 6 a.u. and a barrier rising at r~5 a.u. Additional theoretical and experimental investigations on the nature of these peculiar features will be of great interest.