English

Nuclear structure corrections to the Lamb shift in $\mu^3$He$^+$ and $\mu^3$H

Nuclear Theory 2016-05-03 v1

Abstract

Measuring the 2S-2P Lamb shift in a hydrogen-like muonic atom allows one to extract its nuclear charge radius with a high precision that is limited by the uncertainty in the nuclear structure corrections. The charge radius of the proton thus extracted was found to be 7-sigma away from the CODATA value, in what has become the yet unsolved "proton radius puzzle". Further experiments currently aim at the isotopes of hydrogen and helium: the precise extraction of their radii may provide a hint at the solution of the puzzle. We present the first ab initio calculation of nuclear structure corrections, including the nuclear polarization correction, to the 2S-2P transition in μ3\mu^3He+^+ and μ3\mu^3H, and assess solid theoretical error bars. Our predictions reduce the uncertainty in the nuclear structure corrections to the level of a few percents and will be instrumental to the on-going μ3\mu^3He+^+ experiment. We also support the mirror μ3\mu\,^3H system as a candidate for further probing of the nucleon polarizabilities and shedding more light on the puzzle.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1512.05773,
  title  = {Nuclear structure corrections to the Lamb shift in $\mu^3$He$^+$ and $\mu^3$H},
  author = {N. Nevo Dinur and C. Ji and S. Bacca and N. Barnea},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.05773},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

7 pgs., 1 fig., 1 table, plus Supplementary Materials (3 pgs., 2 tables)