Abstract
This paper reports the study of a new interferometric configuration to measure the effect of gravity on positronium. A Mach–Zehnder matter-wave interferometer has been designed to operate ...with single-photon transitions and to transfer high momentum to a 200 eV positronium beam. The work shows the results and methods used to simulate the interferometer and estimate the operating parameters and the time needed to perform the experiment. It has been estimated that within less than 1 year, the acquisition time is sufficient to achieve a 10% accuracy level in measuring positronium gravitational acceleration, even with a poorly collimated beam, which is significant for theoretical models describing matter–antimatter symmetry. These results pave the way for single photon transition large momentum transfer interferometry with fast atomic beams, which is particularly useful for studies with antimatter and unstable atoms.
Proposed antimatter gravity measurement with an antihydrogen beam Kellerbauer, A.; Amoretti, M.; Belov, A.S. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms,
02/2008, Volume:
266, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The principle of the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass is one of the cornerstones of general relativity. Considerable efforts have been made and are still being made to verify its ...validity. A quantum-mechanical formulation of gravity allows for non-Newtonian contributions to the force which might lead to a difference in the gravitational force on matter and antimatter. While it is widely expected that the gravitational interaction of matter and of antimatter should be identical, this assertion has never been tested experimentally. With the production of large amounts of cold antihydrogen at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator, such a test with neutral antimatter atoms has now become feasible. For this purpose, we have proposed to set up the AEGIS experiment at CERN/AD, whose primary goal will be the direct measurement of the Earth’s gravitational acceleration on antihydrogen with a classical Moiré deflectometer.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Efficient two-step Positronium laser excitation to Rydberg levels Cialdi, S.; Boscolo, I.; Castelli, F. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section B, Beam interactions with materials and atoms,
07/2011, Volume:
269, Issue:
13
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Antihydrogen production by charge exchange reaction between Positronium atoms and antiprotons requires efficient excitation of Positronium atoms up to high-
n levels (Rydberg levels). A two-step ...optical excitation, the first from ground to
n
=
3
and the second from this level to a Rydberg level, is proposed and a suitable laser system is discussed. The requirements on the energy and bandwidth of the excitation laser suggest the use of optical parametric generation technology for both wavelengths. The laser system is composed by two subsystems: one for the generation of 205
nm radiation and the other for the generation of 1670
nm radiation. We have separately developed and tested the laser sources and results are here presented.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Antihydrogen production by charge exchange reaction between Positronium atoms and antiprotons benefits from an efficient excitation of Positronium atoms to high-
n levels (Rydberg levels). A two-step ...optical excitation, the first from ground to
n
=
3 and the second from this level to a Rydberg level, is proposed and a proper laser system to be developed is discussed. The requirements on the energy and bandwidth of the excitation laser suggest the use of optical parametric generation technology for both wavelengths. The laser system is composed of two subsystems: one for the generation of 205
nm radiation and the other for the generation of 1670
nm radiation. We report on the progress towards the realization of the short wavelength source.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
This paper describes the procurement and the production quality control system of Pseudocumene, the scintillator solvent of the solar neutrino detector Borexino at the Laboratorio Nazionale del Gran ...Sasso (Italy). This material constitutes about 99.9% of the scintillator total mass, therefore being the most critical element for the radiopurity of the detector.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Thermal production of positronium in porous alumina Moia, F.; Ferragut, R.; Dupasquier, A. ...
The European physical journal. D, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics,
05/2012, Volume:
66, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
A porous anodic alumina sample with ordered channels was studied in order to characterise its efficiency as a positron-positronium converter at cryogenic temperatures. The effects of gas adsorption ...were found to be vacuum dependent and considerable up to 200 nm depth inside the sample. At higher depths it was possible to identify a temperature dependent positronium formation mechanism and the related activation energy was determined to be in an interval from 8.7 to 16 meV. Because of this mechanism the Ps yield decreases to a few percent with decreasing temperature and it can be considered unsuitable for an efficient cryogenic positronium production.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Borexino, a real-time device for low energy neutrino spectroscopy is nearing completion of construction in the underground laboratories at Gran Sasso, Italy (LNGS). The experiment's goal is the ...direct measurement of the flux of
7
Be solar neutrinos of all flavors via neutrino–electron scattering in an ultra-pure scintillation liquid. Seeded by a series of innovations which were brought to fruition by large-scale operation of a 4-ton test detector at LNGS, a new technology has been developed for Borexino. It enables sub-MeV solar neutrino spectroscopy for the first time. This paper describes the design of Borexino, the various facilities essential to its operation, its spectroscopic and background suppression capabilities and a prognosis of the impact of its results towards resolving the solar neutrino problem. Borexino will also address several other frontier questions in particle physics, astrophysics and geophysics.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Positronium (Ps) formation measurements in several porous materials as: Vycor, germanate Xerogel, Metal-Organic Frameworks MOF-177 and Aerogel with two densities (20 and 150 mg/cm3), were performed ...by means of a variable energy positron beam provided with a Ge detector and a positron lifetime spectrometer. An efficient formation of cooled Ps atoms is a requisite for the production of antihydrogen, with the aim of a direct measurement of the Earth gravitational acceleration g of antimatter, which is a primary scientific goal of AEGIS (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy). Porous materials are necessary to form a high yield of Ps atoms as well as to cool Ps through collisions with the inner walls of the pores. The different materials were characterized and produce Ps into the pores. Lifetime measurements give an estimation of the typical pores dimension of the substances. A comparative study of the positron lifetime and the Ps fraction values in the above mentioned materials indicates that silica Aerogel, with the appropriate density, is an excellent candidate for an efficient formation of cold Ps atoms for the AEGIS project.
For most of their existence, stars are fuelled by the fusion of hydrogen into helium. Fusion proceeds via two processes that are well understood theoretically: the proton-proton (pp) chain and the ...carbon-nitrogen-oxygen (CNO) cycle
. Neutrinos that are emitted along such fusion processes in the solar core are the only direct probe of the deep interior of the Sun. A complete spectroscopic study of neutrinos from the pp chain, which produces about 99 per cent of the solar energy, has been performed previously
; however, there has been no reported experimental evidence of the CNO cycle. Here we report the direct observation, with a high statistical significance, of neutrinos produced in the CNO cycle in the Sun. This experimental evidence was obtained using the highly radiopure, large-volume, liquid-scintillator detector of Borexino, an experiment located at the underground Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy. The main experimental challenge was to identify the excess signal-only a few counts per day above the background per 100 tonnes of target-that is attributed to interactions of the CNO neutrinos. Advances in the thermal stabilization of the detector over the last five years enabled us to develop a method to constrain the rate of bismuth-210 contaminating the scintillator. In the CNO cycle, the fusion of hydrogen is catalysed by carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, and so its rate-as well as the flux of emitted CNO neutrinos-depends directly on the abundance of these elements in the solar core. This result therefore paves the way towards a direct measurement of the solar metallicity using CNO neutrinos. Our findings quantify the relative contribution of CNO fusion in the Sun to be of the order of 1 per cent; however, in massive stars, this is the dominant process of energy production. This work provides experimental evidence of the primary mechanism for the stellar conversion of hydrogen into helium in the Universe.
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FZAB, GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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