Fitting for the energy levels of hydrogen

Abstract

Atomic hydrogen energy levels calculated to high precision are required to assist experimental researchers working on spectroscopy in the pursuit of testing quantum electrodynamics (QED) and probing for physics beyond the Standard Model. There are two important parts to the problem of computing these levels: an accurate evaluation of contributions from QED and using an accurate value for the proton charge radius as an input. Recent progress on QED corrections to the fine structure, as well as increasing evidence that a proton charge radius in the range of 0.84 fm is favored over the previously adopted larger value in the 0.88 fm range, has advanced the field, yet several state-of-the-art measurements remain in contradiction with this smaller value. Motivated by on-going and future work in this area, we present here a simple parameterization for the energy levels of hydrogen at the level of hyperfine structure using the so-called relativistic Ritz approach. The fitting of a finite sample of QED-generated levels at low to intermediate principal quantum number, $n$, gives a generally applicable formula for \emph{all} values of $n$ for each distinct angular momentum channel, given in this work up to orbital angular momentum number $\ell=30$. We also provide a simple linear parameterization for the shift in hydrogen energy levels as a function of the proton radius, providing a useful cross check for extant and future measured energy intervals.