H32+ molecular ion in a strong magnetic field: Triangular configuration

The existence of the molecular ion ${\mathrm{H}}_{3}^{2+}$ in a magnetic field in a triangular configuration is revised. A variational method with an optimization of the form of the vector potential (gauge fixing) is used. It is shown that in the range of magnetic fields ${10}^{8}lBl{10}^{11}\mathrm{G}$ the system $(\mathrm{pppe}),$ with the protons forming an equilateral triangle perpendicular to the magnetic line, has a well-pronounced minimum in the total energy. This configuration is unstable under the decays $(\mathrm{H}\mathrm{atom})+p+p$ and ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}^{+}+p.$ The triangular configuration of ${\mathrm{H}}_{3}^{2+}$ complements ${\mathrm{H}}_{3}^{2+}$ in the linear configuration that exists for $B\ensuremath{\gtrsim}{10}^{10}\mathrm{G}.$