Molecular-dynamics simulations of cold antihydrogen formation in strongly magnetized plasmas

Phys Rev Lett. 2005 Oct 14;95(16):163402. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.163402. Epub 2005 Oct 12.

Abstract

Employing a high-order symplectic integrator and an adaptive time-step algorithm, we perform molecular-dynamics simulations of antihydrogen formation, in a cold plasma confined by a strong magnetic field, over time scales of microseconds. Sufficient positron-antiproton recombination events occur to allow a statistical analysis for various properties of the formed antihydrogen atoms. Giant-dipole states are formed in the initial stage of recombination. In addition to neutral atoms, we also observe antihydrogen positive ions (H(+)), in which two positrons simultaneously bind to an antiproton.