CROSSED-FIELD HYDROGEN-ATOM AND THE 3-BODY SUN-EARTH-MOON PROBLEM

We report results of a systematic study of the energy-field dependence of the four elementary periodic orbits of the electron motion of the hydrogen atom in crossed magnetic-electric fields from weak to strong perturbation, up into the continuum regime. We find the classical dyna mics of the crossed-field atom to be intimately connected to that of t he Sun-Earth-Moon three-body problem in Hill's approximation, exhibite d by striking similarities of the four elementary orbits of the atomic and celestial systems in their energy-field dependence.