Classical Dynamics of Muonic-Electronic Helium and Heliumlike Ions: The Allowance for the Eccentricity of the Muon and Nucleus Orbits

In the previous paper by one of us (hereafter paper I), the author considered Rydberg states of the muonic-electronic helium atom or helium-like ion and used the fact that the muon motion occurs much more rapidly than the electron motion. Assuming that the muon and nucleus orbits are circular, he applied the analytical method based on separating rapid and slow subsystems. He showed that the electron moves in an effective potential that is mathematically equivalent to the potential of a satellite orbiting an oblate planet like the Earth. He also showed that the “unperturbed” elliptical orbit of the electron engages in two precessions simultaneously: the precession of the electron orbit in the plane of the orbit and the precession of the orbital plane of the electron around the axis perpendicular to the plane of the muon and nuclear orbits. The problem remained whether or not the allowance for the ellipticity of the orbit could significantly change the results. In the present paper, we address this problem: we study how the allowance for a relatively low eccentricity ε of the muon and nucleus orbits affects the motion of the electron. We derive an additional, ε-dependent term in the effective potential for the motion of the electron. We show analytically that in the particular case of the planar geometry (where the electron orbit is in the plane of the muon and nucleus orbits), it leads to an additional contribution to the frequency of the precession of the electron orbit. We demonstrate that this additional, ε-depen- dent contribution to the precession frequency of the electron orbit can reach the same order of magnitude as the primary, ε-independent contribution to the precession frequency. Therefore, the results of our paper seem to be important not only qualitatively, but also quantitatively.