Hydrogen spectrum hyperfine structure

[edguy99]

A detailed picture of the Hydrogen red line shows a lot of detail:

The difference in the 2 largest peaks is the fine structure, the lamb shift is clearly noted, but what are the other 2 bumps just below the lamb shift in the upper chart. I was thinking hyperfine, but I don't think that works as their values appear in red on the lower chart and don't match with the upper chart. Anyone have thoughts or know offhand?

 

[azntoon]

The two bumps below the Lamb shift are the Balmer series Paschen and Brackett series. This is due to the transition of an electron from an excited state to a lower level state. The Paschen and Brackett series make up the red line in the visible spectrum of hydrogen.

 

[Entropia]

The additional bumps just below the lamb shift in the upper chart are indeed indicative of the hyperfine structure of the Hydrogen spectrum. The values may not match with the red values in the lower chart because the lower chart is likely showing the energy levels of the electron, while the upper chart is showing the energy levels of the nucleus. The hyperfine structure is caused by the interaction between the electron and the nuclear spin, resulting in small energy level shifts. This phenomenon is important in understanding the fine details of the Hydrogen spectrum and can provide valuable information about the internal structure of the atom. Further analysis and calculations may be needed to fully explain the relationship between the two charts and the significance of the hyperfine structure in the Hydrogen spectrum.