Energy levels of mesonic helium in quantum electrodynamics

Abstract

On the basis of variational method we study energy levels of pionic helium $(\pi -e-He)$ and kaonic helium $(K-e-He)$ with an electron in ground state and a meson in excited state with principal and orbital quantum numbers $n\sim l+1\sim 20$. Variational wave functions are taken in the Gaussian form. Matrix elements of the basic Hamiltonian and corrections to vacuum polarization and relativism are calculated analytically in a closed form. We calculate some bound state energies and transition frequencies which can be studied in the experiment.

12 pages, 6 figures