Polarization and trapping of weakly bound atoms in penning trap fields

The ATHENA and ATRAP groups at CERN recently reported the production of weakly bound antihydrogen atoms in a non-neutral positron-antiproton plasma. This Letter derives an equation of motion for weakly bound atoms in the electric and magnetic fields of the plasma and trap. The atoms are polarized by the electric field and can be trapped radially in the edge region of the plasma where the electric field is maximum.