Quantum Sensing for Antimatter Gravity

反物质重力的量子传感

• 批准号: ST/W006189/1
• 负责人: David Cassidy
• 金额: $ 46.99万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FW006189%2F1
• 关键词: Quantum; Sensing; Antimatter; Gravity

Why is the Universe apparently devoid of antimatter? According to our best current understanding of physics (as expressed by the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics), we should not exist; our solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, and indeed the entire observable Universe do not make sense in this paradigm because they seem to be composed only of matter, with hardly any antimatter to be found. This is mysterious because the fundamental symmetries underlying the SM mean that, when energy was converted to matter after the Big Bang, an equal amount of antimatter should also have been created. This arises because matter and antimatter are deeply symmetrical, as are the fundamental quantum field theories that we use to describe them; breaking this symmetry does extreme damage to some of the most cherished properties of modern physics. Nevertheless, we have a crisis and something in our current understanding has to change. The great success of the SM has the ironic side effect that it doesn't tell us where to go next, even though we have many indications that it is itself incomplete. Examples are the existence of Dark Matter, the strong CP problem, the hierarchy problem, and so (there are many more). Similarly, the formation of a matter-dominated Universe should be impossible, and yet this is what seems to have happened. The observation seems to be on solid ground: a carefully balanced Universe containing both matter and antimatter in equal quantities does not seem very likely, as we don't see galaxy-scale annihilation events. Therefore it appears that the exact symmetry between matter and antimatter must somehow be broken. However, there is no clear indication of how this could happen in a way that is compatible with the SM. While it may be difficult to reconcile with the SM in a general way, some sort of antigravity effect may offer an explanation for our seemingly unreasonable existence. The Quantum Sensing for Antimatter Gravity (QSAG) project is represents an attempt to measure the gravitational interaction of positronium (Ps) in the field of the Earth. Ps is a hydrogen-like atomic system composed of both matter and antimatter (an electron and a positron). Our aim is to measure if it falls in the same way as other matter; this is essentially a test of the weak equivalence principle, which has not previously been tested directly for systems containing antimatter. The basis of the experiment is a highly sensitive quantum sensing protocol using interference effects to probe the force of gravity on a quantum superposition of highly excited Rydberg states of Ps. This form of (anti)matter wave interferometry has not been demonstrated for Ps, but has recently been developed for Rydberg He atoms [J E. Palmer and S. D. Hogan Electric Rydberg atom interferometry, Phys Rev Lett 122, 250404 (2019)]. Experiments with Ps atoms are made more difficult by the short Ps lifetime and so it is highly advantageous to excite them into Rydberg states that do not annihilate. Thus the QSAG experiment will be able to employ optical and microwave radiation to perform interferometric measurements that will allow us to test for antigravity effects in Ps, and in so doing possibly explain how it is that we are able to exist.

为什么宇宙中似乎没有反物质？根据我们目前对物理学的最佳理解（正如粒子物理学的标准模型（SM）所表达的那样），我们不应该存在;我们的太阳系，银河系，甚至整个可观测的宇宙在这个范式中都没有意义，因为它们似乎只由物质组成，几乎没有任何反物质。这是神秘的，因为SM背后的基本对称性意味着，当大爆炸后能量转化为物质时，应该也产生了等量的反物质。这是因为物质和反物质是高度对称的，我们用来描述它们的基本量子场论也是如此;打破这种对称性会对现代物理学中一些最珍贵的性质造成极大的破坏。然而，我们有一个危机，我们目前的理解必须改变。SM的巨大成功具有讽刺意味的副作用，它并没有告诉我们下一步该往哪里走，即使我们有许多迹象表明它本身是不完整的。例如暗物质的存在，强CP问题，层次问题等等（还有很多）。同样，物质主导的宇宙的形成应该是不可能的，然而这似乎是发生了什么。观察似乎是坚实的基础：一个仔细平衡的宇宙包含等量的物质和反物质似乎不太可能，因为我们没有看到银河系规模的湮灭事件。因此，看来物质和反物质之间的精确对称性必须以某种方式被打破。然而，没有明确的迹象表明这如何能够以与SM兼容的方式发生。虽然可能很难以一种普遍的方式与SM和解，但某种反重力效应可能为我们看似不合理的存在提供解释。反物质引力的量子传感（QSAG）项目代表了测量地球场中正电子偶素（Ps）引力相互作用的尝试。Ps是由物质和反物质（一个电子和一个正电子）组成的类氢原子系统。我们的目标是测量它是否以与其他物质相同的方式福尔斯;这本质上是对弱等效原理的测试，以前没有直接测试过包含反物质的系统。该实验的基础是一种高灵敏度的量子传感协议，使用干涉效应来探测Ps的高度激发的里德堡态的量子叠加上的重力。这种形式的（反）物质波干涉还没有被证明为Ps，但最近已经发展为里德伯He原子[J E。帕尔默和S. D. Hogan Electric Rydberg原子干涉法，Phys Rev Lett 122，250404（2019）]。由于Ps原子的寿命很短，所以使用Ps原子的实验变得更加困难，因此将它们激发到不湮灭的里德伯态是非常有利的。因此，QSAG实验将能够使用光学和微波辐射来进行干涉测量，这将使我们能够测试Ps中的反重力效应，并且这样做可能解释我们是如何存在的。