Probing Planetary Atoms Formed From Three-Body Coulomb-Interacting Systems

We have measured the energy sharing among three massive coulomb-interacting particles for a unique end-state configuration. The fragments are formed from colliding 4 keV D_3^+ onto He, dissociating into the Coulomb-interacting channel D^++D^++D^-. In the laboratory frame, we resolve the momenta of all three particles in triple coincidence leading to a measurement of the center-of-mass (cm) energy partitioning as well as the correlation angles. A distillation of all the three body events is shown as a distribution on a Dalitz plot. In this measurement, we analyzed the possible final states where the D^- and D^+ are in close proximity where simulations show the possibility of the D^- and D^+ becoming bound. Final states of a bound D^-+D^+ forming planetary atoms exhibit a particular signature on the Dalitz plot. Possible mass dependent effects will be discussed.