The hyperfine structure of the hydrogen molecular ion

Theoretical investigations of the hyperfine structure of the hydrogen molecular ion (one electron and two protons) are discussed. The nuclear spin-rotation interaction has been found to be of the same sign as in the hydrogen molecule and the hyperfine transition frequencies can be accurately predicted. With measurements of the hyperfine structure of the deuterium molecular ion (or of HD) it should be possible to obtain a value of the deuteron quadrupole moment that could be compared with the values obtained from the deuterium molecule and from nuclear theory. ∗Invited talk given at the Inaugural Conference of the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Seoul, Korea, June 4–10, 1996, to be published by World Scientific.