First cold anti-hydrogen production and detection - The ATHENA experiment

by Alessandro Variola (INFN)

Thursday 8 May 2003, 11:00 → 12:00 Europe/Zurich

PS Auditorium (CERN)

ATHENA is an international collaboration whose aim is the direct comparison between the properties of both hydrogen and anti-hydrogen atomic systems. This would allow measurements of high accuracy on CPT as well as gravitational effect on antimatter. In August 2002 ATHENA took a major step in this direction being the first to produce and detect anti-hydrogen atoms at cryogenic temperature. A short basic level introduction for non-specialists on the direct experimental applications of cold anti-hydrogen will be followed by a description of the various experimental facility components, their task and their performances. In this framework special attention will be devoted to non-neutral plasma traps and the associated diagnostics. The absolute anti-hydrogen production rate and the signal to noise ratio will be discussed. The results of production rate versus temperature with their implications on the recombination mechanisms will be given. Finally the future plans of the collaboration will also be illustrated.

Information: http://cern.ch/AB-seminar/
Organiser(s): Werner Herr (AB/ABP)