STRUCTURE AND RADIATIVE TRANSITIONS OF THE HYDROGEN-ATOM MOVING IN A STRONG MAGNETIC-FIELD

The discrete spectrum of the hydrogen atom moving across a strong magnetic field (B = 7 x 10(11)-7 x 10(12) G) is studied by expanding wavefunctions over a complete orthogonal basis, whose single term provides a correct description of an atomic state at large pseudomomenta K of the transverse motion. Wavefunctions, energies, atomic sizes and oscillator strengths of radiative transitions are calculated and analysed in a wide range of K values. All these quantities undergo radical changes when the atom moves across the field. The discrete spectrum remains infinite at arbitrary K, although the mean transverse velocity cannot exceed some maximum value for the bound states. Oscillator strengths change by orders of magnitude and some dipole selection rules are violated.