Confinement of antihydrogen for 1,000 seconds
Confinement of antihydrogen for 1,000 seconds
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DOI：
10.1038/nphys2025
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发表时间：
2011-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
19.6
通讯作者：
Yamazaki, Y.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Andresen, G. B.;Ashkezari, M. D.;Yamazaki, Y.
由一个粒子和一个反粒子组成的原子是不稳定的，通常存活不到一微秒。完全由反粒子组成的反氢被认为是稳定的，正是这种长寿为精确研究物质-反物质对称性带来了希望。我们最近证明了捕获反氢原子释放后，约束时间为172毫秒。一个关键的问题，为未来的研究是：多久可以反原子被困？在这里，我们报告了1,000 s的反原子约束的观察，将我们早期的结果扩展了近四个数量级。我们的计算表明，大多数被困的反原子达到基态。此外，我们报告的第一次测量的能量分布的捕获反氢，再加上详细的比较与模拟，提供了一个关键的工具，系统的调查捕获动力学。这些进展开辟了一系列实验的可能性，包括精确研究电荷-宇称-时间反转对称性和冷却到引力效应可能变得明显的温度。
Atoms made of a particle and an antiparticle are unstable, usually surviving less than a microsecond. Antihydrogen, made entirely of antiparticles, is believed to be stable, and it is this longevity that holds the promise of precision studies of matter-antimatter symmetry. We have recently demonstrated trapping of antihydrogen atoms by releasing them after a confinement time of 172 ms. A critical question for future studies is: how long can anti-atoms be trapped? Here, we report the observation of anti-atom confinement for 1,000 s, extending our earlier results by nearly four orders of magnitude. Our calculations indicate that most of the trapped anti-atoms reach the ground state. Further, we report the first measurement of the energy distribution of trapped antihydrogen, which, coupled with detailed comparisons with simulations, provides a key tool for the systematic investigation of trapping dynamics. These advances open up a range of experimental possibilities, including precision studies of charge-parity-time reversal symmetry and cooling to temperatures where gravitational effects could become apparent.