Binding of muonated hydrogen molecules and Born–Oppenheimer approximation revisited

Abstract

The stability of four fermionic particles with unit charge, of which two are positively and two negatively charged, is discussed. Except for using the simplest approximation of a single Gaussian orbital per particle, the problem is exactly solved variationally by varying the masses to simulate molecular di-hydrogen, mono-muonated di-hydrogen, and di-muonated di-hydrogen. We illustrate the celebrated Born–Oppenheimer approximation 2 years after the occasion of its 90th anniversary. It is suggested that this method is valid only for di-hydrogen.