Trapped Antihydrogen -­ Stable, Neutral Antimatter
J.S. Hangst
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, and Spokesperson, the ALPHA collaboration at CERN
Lundi 13/02/2012, 11:00
Bat 141, salle André Berthelot (143) , CEA Paris-Saclay

Antihydrogen, the bound state of an antiproton and a positron, can be used as a test-bed of fundamental symmetries. In particular, the CPT Theorem requires that hydrogen and antihydrogen have the same spectrum. The current experimental precision of measurements of hydrogen transition frequencies approaches 1 part in $10^{14}$. Similarly precise antihydrogen spectroscopy would constitute a unique, model-independent test of CPT symmetry. Antihydrogen atoms have been produced in quantity at CERN since 2002, when the ATHENA collaboration demonstrated how to mix cryogenic plasmas of antiprotons and positrons to produce low energy anti-atoms. In this colloquium I will discuss the newest development along the road to antihydrogen spectroscopy: magnetically trapped antihydrogen. In November of 2010 the ALPHA collaboration reported the first trapping of antihydrogen atoms in a magnetic multipole trap. The atoms must be produced with an energy - in temperature units - of less than 0.5 K in order to be trapped. Subsequently, we have shown that trapped antiydrogen can be stored for up to 1000 s, and we have undertaken the first resonant interaction experiments with anti-atoms. I will discuss the many developments necessary to realise trapped antihydrogen, and I will take a look at the future of antihydrogen physics at CERN.

Contact : Eric ARMENGAUD

 

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