Hydrogen atom structures

What is it about?

Is the hydrogen atom an isolated quantum system? Is the hydrogen atom theory and practice about the proton and electron? Arguably most of the practicing physicists would answer yes, the hydrogen atom is isolated (described solely bu the Schrodinger law), and yes, it's all about the atomic proton and electron. Despite those standard prejudice, the atom is open (all atoms decay if excited) and the atomic preferred structure is the 'center-of-mass + internal degrees of freedom'.

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Why is it important?

Atoms and molecules can be excited and then decay by emitting light. The atomic (molecule) 'stationary' states obtained from the Schrodinger equation are not stationary - only the ground state is stationary. Those states do not describe either the proton or electron (which are entangled), but the internal degrees of freedom and are monitored by the quantum vacuum fluctuations, which induces atomic decays, i.e. the preferred atomic structure of center-of-mass+internal degrees of freedom.