Kinematically Complete Measurements for Positron Impact Ionization of Atoms and Simple Molecules

该项目包括一个国际合作，以解决反物质和物质之间基本相互作用的精确测量。正电子（有时被称为电子的反粒子）撞击原子和简单分子，为研究这些相互作用的基本物理学提供了一个独特的机会。我们测量了运动完全实验中每个粒子的初始和最终状态动量。这为比较实验和理论以及研究高度相关系统的物理提供了最严格的标准。在简单分子的情况下，它也使我们能够将相互作用的研究扩展到面向空间的分子。对这些相互作用的理解对于正电子与更复杂分子相互作用的精确建模至关重要，并可能导致各种应用，如正电子发射断层扫描（PET）扫描的提高分辨率和放射性同位素对人体组织的β衰变的影响。这是澳大利亚研究委员会反物质研究卓越中心（CAMS）和海德堡马克斯普朗克研究所（max - planck - institut fur Kernphysik）的科学家们共同努力的结果。这项研究包括博士后研究人员和研究生和本科生在国际“一个世界”的环境。就像这些实验室规模的实验一样，学生和博士后参与了研究的各个方面，从实验设备的构思和开发到实验的操作和诊断，以及结果的分析和发表。

This project comprises an international collaboration to address precision measurements of fundamental interactions between antimatter and matter. Positrons (sometimes referred to as the anti-particle of the electron), impinging upon atoms and simple molecules, provide a unique opportunity to study the fundamental physics of these interactions. We measure the initial and final state momentum of each of the particles in a kinematically complete experiment. This provides the most stringent of criteria for comparing experiment with theory, and for studying the physics of highly correlated systems. In the case of simple molecules, it also enables us to extend the study of interactions to spatially-oriented molecules.The understanding of these interactions is essential to precision modeling of positrons interacting with more complex molecules and may lead to diverse applications such as enhanced resolution for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans and the effects of beta decay of radio-isotopes on human tissue. It is a collaborative effort including scientists from the Australian Research Council's Center of Excellence for Antimatter-Matter Studies (CAMS) headquartered at the Australian National University and the Max-Planck-Institüt fur Kernphysik in Heidelberg. This research includes post-doctoral researchers and graduate and undergraduate students in an international "one-world" environment. As is often the case for these laboratory scale experiments, the students and post-docs are involved in all aspects of the research, from conception and development of the experimental apparatus through to the operation and diagnosis of the experiments, and analysis and publication of results.