Eur. Phys. J. D (2012) 66: 132
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-30076-6

Regular Article

Stability and hyperfine structure of the four- and five-body muon-atomic clusters a⁺b⁺μ⁻e⁻ and a⁺b⁺μ⁻e⁻e⁻

Department of Chemistry, University of Western Ontario, London, N6H 5B7 Ontario, Canada

^a e-mail: afrolov@uwo.ca
^b e-mail: dwardlaw@uwo.ca

Received: 30 January 2012
Published online: 23 May 2012

Abstract

Based on the results of accurate variational calculations we demonstrate stability of the five-body negatively charged ions a⁺b⁺μ⁻e⁻e⁻. Each of these five-body ions contains two electrons e⁻, one negatively charged muon μ⁻ and two nuclei of the hydrogen isotopes a,b = (p,d,t). The bound state properties of these five-body ions, including their hyperfine structure, are briefly discussed. We also investigate the hyperfine structure of the ground states of the four-body muonic quasi-atoms a⁺b⁺μ⁻e⁻. In particular, we determine the hyperfine structure splittings for the ground state of the four-body muonic quasi-atoms: p⁺d⁺μ⁻e⁻ and p⁺t⁺μ⁻e⁻.