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. © 2010 IOP Publishing Ltd.