Classical dynamics of two-electron atoms near the triple collision

The classical dynamics of two electrons in the Coulomb potential of an attractive nucleus is chaotic in large parts of the high-dimensional phase space. Quantum spectra of two-electron atoms, however, exhibit structures which clearly hint at the existence of approximate symmetries in this system. In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 054302 (2004)], we presented a study of the dynamics near the triple collision as a first step towards uncovering the hidden regularity in the classical dynamics of two electron atoms. The nonregularizable triple collision singularity is a main source of chaos in three body Coulomb problems. Here, we will give a more detailed account of our findings based on a study of the global structure of the stable and unstable manifolds of the triple collision.