  We consider a gas of hydrogen atoms illuminated by a broadband, unpolarized
radiation with zero anisotropy. In the absence of external fields, the atomic
J-levels are thus isotropically populated. While this condition persists in the
presence of a magnetic field, we show instead that electric fields can induce
the alignment of those levels. We also show that this electric alignment cannot
occur in a two-term model of hydrogen (e.g., if only the Ly-alpha transition is
excited), or if the level populations are distributed according to Boltzmann's
law.
