METASTABLE STATES OF ANTIPROTONIC HELIUM IN THE ENERGY-RANGE OF THE 2S AND 2P STATES OF HELIUM - HYPERSPHERICAL ANALYSIS OF THE SYSTEM

Metastable states of antiprotonic helium (p) over bar He+ whose energi es lie in the range of the 2S and 2P excited states of He are discusse d and their energies are calculated using the hyperspherical method wi thin the ''symmetric top'' approximation. These states can be populate d via collisions of antiprotons with excited He atoms. They represent another group of the potentially observable metastable states of (p) o ver bar He+, which are characterized by the total angular momentum L s imilar to 70, in contrast to the recently discovered metastable states having L similar to 35.