Fundamental Symmetry Tests with Trapped Antihydrogen: ALPHA at CERN/AD

捕获反氢的基本对称性测试：CERN/AD 的 ALPHA

• 批准号: SAPPJ-2020-00022
• 负责人: Fujiwara, Makoto
• 金额: $ 64.84万
• 依托单位: TRIUMF
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Project
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=718764
• 关键词: Fundamental; Symmetry; Tests; Trapped; Antihydrogen

This grant will support Canadian contributions to the scientific program of the CERN-based ALPHA Collaboration. The goal of ALPHA is to measure properties of the antihydrogen atom to the highest precision possible, and to compare them to those of the ordinary hydrogen atom. These comparisons serve as tests of fundamental symmetries between matter and antimatter, and are expected to shed light on issues that rank amongst some of the greatest unsolved problems in physics. The ALPHA Collaboration comprises approximately 50 scientists from 15 institutions in 7 countries. More than a third of those individuals come from Canadian research laboratories and universities (collectively called ALPHA-Canada), and will be supported by this grant. ALPHA-Canada has been funded by NSERC continuously since the ALPHA Collaboration was formed in 2005, and has played leading roles in many of ALPHA's most significant accomplishments. Examples of earlier high-profile milestones driven by NSERC funding include: stable (Nature 2010) and long term (Nature Physics 2011) trapping of neutral antimatter, proof of principle microwave spectroscopy (Nature 2012), and tests of charge neutrality (Nature Communications 2014 and Nature 2016). During the tenure of our most recent three-year funding cycle, we dramatically advanced the field of antihydrogen physics. In particular, construction and commissioning of a new apparatus (ALPHA-2) enabled us to transition from what one might call “proof-of-principle” demonstrations to a robust program of precision physics. Examples of scientific milestones attained since our last SAP Project Grant application was submitted to NSERC (October 2016) include: observation of laser-induced two-photon 1S-2S transitions in antihydrogen (Nature 2017), and a subsequent 2 part-per-trillion measurement of the frequency of that transition (Nature 2018); observation of the ground hyperfine spectrum of antihydrogen (Nature 2017), and a subsequent 9 part-per-million measurement of the frequency of that transition (Nature, under review); observation of the 1S-2P Lyman-alpha transition in antihydrogen (Nature 2018), and a subsequent measurement of the fine structure and Lamb shift (Nature, under review); and laser-cooling of antihydrogen and subsequent 1S-2S spectroscopy of laser-cooled antihydrogen (manuscripts under preparation). Further to this, we have developed and constructed yet another antihydrogen apparatus: ALPHA-g. The purpose of ALPHA-g is to enable experiments that will probe the gravitational interaction between antihydrogen and the Earth, yielding a first direct test of Einstein's Equivalence Principle in the antimatter sector. ALPHA-Canada has, is, and will play leading roles most aspects of the ALPHA-g program. In this application, we request funding to support and exciting and highly visible three-year program of activities that will significantly advance the frontiers of precision fundamental symmetry tests with antihydrogen atoms.

这笔赠款将支持加拿大对以欧洲核子研究中心为基础的阿尔法合作的科学计划的贡献。阿尔法的目标是以尽可能高的精度测量反氢原子的性质，并将它们与普通氢原子的性质进行比较。这些比较是对物质和反物质之间基本对称性的测试，预计将有助于揭示物理学中一些最大的悬而未决的问题。 阿尔法团队由来自7个国家15个机构的约50名科学家组成。其中超过三分之一的人来自加拿大的研究实验室和大学(统称为阿尔法-加拿大)，并将得到这笔赠款的支持。自2005年阿尔法合作成立以来，阿尔法-加拿大公司一直得到NSERC的资助，并在阿尔法的许多最重要的成就中发挥了主导作用。由NSERC资金推动的早期高调里程碑的例子包括：稳定(自然2010)和长期(自然物理2011)中性反物质的捕获，原理微波光谱学的证明(自然2012)，以及电荷中性测试(自然通信2014和自然2016)。 在我们最近的三年资助周期中，我们极大地推动了反氢物理领域的发展。特别是，一台新仪器(阿尔法-2)的建造和调试使我们能够从人们所说的“原则证明”演示过渡到一个强大的精密物理计划。自从我们上一次SAP项目拨款申请提交给NSERC(2016年10月)以来取得的科学里程碑的例子包括：观察到反氢中激光诱导的双光子1S-2S跃迁(自然，2017年)，以及随后对这种跃迁频率的百万分之2的测量(自然，2018年)；观察到反氢的地面超精细光谱(自然，2017年)，以及随后对这种跃迁频率的百万分之9的测量(自然，正在审查中)；观察到反氢中的1S-2P莱曼-阿尔法转变(《自然》2018年)，以及随后对精细结构和兰姆位移的测量(《自然》，正在审查中)；以及反氢的激光冷却和随后激光冷却反氢的1S-2S光谱(手稿正在准备中)。 此外，我们还开发并建造了另一个反氢装置：α-g。阿尔法-g的目的是让实验能够探测反氢和地球之间的引力相互作用，从而在反物质领域首次直接测试爱因斯坦的等效原理。阿尔法-加拿大已经、现在和将来在阿尔法-g计划的大部分方面发挥主导作用。 在这项申请中，我们请求提供资金，以支持令人兴奋和高度可见的三年活动计划，该计划将显著推进反氢原子精确基本对称性测试的前沿。