Hyperfine structure in the HD molecule

Abstract

We investigate interactions between the proton spin, the deuteron spin, and the orbital angular momentum in the electronic ground state of the HD molecule. These interactions lead to hyperfine splittings of molecular energy levels. Our numerical results for the first rotational level agree well with the currently most accurate measurement performed by Ramsey {\em et al.} in the 1950s. Knowledge of the hyperfine structure of other levels is necessary for the accurate determination of rovibrational transition energies in spectroscopic measurements. We present theoretical predictions and share the numerical code used to perform numerical calculations. This work sets the ground for high precision spectroscopic tests of hyperfine interactions in molecular systems. In particular we determine the value of the deuteron quadrupole moment $Q=0.2856(2)$ fm${}^2$ and give outlook for improving its accuracy by three orders of magnitude.

9 pages, three figures, corrected notation

References in corpus (8)

• Born-Oppenheimer potential for H${}_2$
• Sub-Doppler frequency metrology in HD for test of fundamental physics
• Toward a determination of the proton-electron mass ratio from the Lamb-dip measurement of HD
• Rovibrational energy levels of the hydrogen molecule through nonadiabatic perturbation theory
• Lamb-dips and Lamb-peaks in the saturation spectrum of HD
• Nonadiabatic relativistic correction in H${}_2$, D${}_2$, and HD
• Sub-ppb measurement of a fundamental band rovibrational transition in HD
• Finite nuclear mass corrections to electric and magnetic interactions in diatomic molecules

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Hyperfine structure of the first rotational level in H${}_2$, D${}_2$ and HD molecules and the deuteron quadrupole moment
• Fano-like resonance due to interference with distant transitions
• Hyperfine components of all rovibrational quadrupole transitions in the H${}_2$ and D${}_2$ molecules
• Hyperfine structure and electric quadrupole transitions in the deuterium molecular ion