Speaker
Description
Despite decades of effort, quantum electrodynamics (QED), the field theory that describes the interaction between light and charged particles, is poorly tested in the regime of strong coulomb fields. This is due to a confluence of difficulties linked to experimental limitations in highly-charged ion spectroscopy and nuclear uncertainties. I will present a new paradigm for probing higher-order QED effects using spectroscopy of Rydberg states in exotic atoms, where orders of magnitude stronger field strengths can be achieved while nuclear uncertainties may be neglected [1]. Such tests are now possible due to the advent of quantum sensing detectors and new facilities providing low-energy intense beams of exotic particles for precision physics. I will present first results from experiments with muonic atoms at J-PARC within the context of the HEATES collaboration, and discuss a new project for antiprotonic atom spectroscopy at CERN. Then, the paradigm can be flipped upside down, and the same quantum sensing detectors used specifically to look at fingerprint of nuclear properties in the atomic quantum structure. I will present the new QUARTET collaboration at the Paul Scherrer Institute which will make first precision measurements of charge radii in light nuclei starting in 2023 and may someday even be sensitive to beyond standard model physics [2].
[1] N. Paul et al, Physical Review Letters 126, 173001 (2021)
[2] A. Antognini et al, arXiv : 2210.16929 (2022)
