On the Tritium HFS and the Anomalous Magnetic Moment of the Triton

The hfs of tritium is studied using the model of A. Bohr according to which the electron centers on the proton at small electron-nuclear separations. The hfs effects due to this recentering of the electron are calculated for three theories of the origin of the triton moment anomaly: the spin-orbital moment theory of Avery and Sachs, the phenomenological interaction moment theory of Blanchard, Avery, and Sachs, and the meson exchange moment theory of Villars. In addition the hfs contributions due to relativistic effects of internal nuclear motion are calculated for deuterium, and the result is used to estimate the uncertainty in the tritium hfs coming from this source. It is found that in each case considered the hfs effects may be classified as either "Bohr effect," proportional to the size of the nucleus, or "orbital effect," proportional to the size of the region of centering of the electron. On each of the three theories the total his effect is of the order of magnitude of the present experimental uncertainty in the determination of the hfs. While the effect is large enough so that it could be observed with only a small improvement of the experimental precision, it is about the same for each theory considered and would not, therefore, serve as a possible means of distinguishing among the several theoretical accounts of the triton moment anomaly.