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Limit on the electric charge of antihydrogen

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Hyperfine Interactions Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The ALPHA collaboration has successfully demonstrated the production and the confinement of cold antihydrogen, H̅. An analysis of trapping data allowed a stringent limit to be placed on the electric charge of the simplest antiatom. Charge neutrality of matter is known to a very high precision, hence a neutrality limit of H̅ provides a test of CPT invariance. The experimental technique is based on the measurement of the deflection of putatively charged H̅ in an electric field. The tendency for trapped H̅ atoms to be displaced by electrostatic fields is measured and compared to the results of a detailed simulation of H̅ dynamics in the trap. An extensive survey of the systematic errors was performed, and this work focuses on those due to the silicon vertex detector, which is the device used to determine the H̅ annihilation position. The limit obtained on the charge of the H̅ atom is Q = (−1.3 ± 1.8 ± 0.4) × 10−8, representing the first precision measurement with H̅ [1].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada, M3J 1P3

    A. Capra, C. Amole & S. Menary

  2. Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada, V5A 1S6

    M. D. Ashkezari & M. E. Hayden

  3. Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720-7300, USA

    M. Baquero-Ruiz, J. Fajans, A. Little, A. Povilus, C. So, Z. Vendeiro, J. S. Wurtele, A. I. Zhmoginov & A. E. Charman

  4. School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    W. Bertsche

  5. The Cockcroft Institute, Daresbury Laboratory, Warrington, WA4 4AD, UK

    W. Bertsche

  6. Centre for Cold Matter, Imperial College, London, SW7 2BW, UK

    E. Butler

  7. Physics Department, CERN, 1211, Geneva 23, Switzerland

    E. Butler & J. S. Hangst

  8. Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-972, Brazil

    C. L. Cesar & D. M. Silveira

  9. Department of Physics, College of Science, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK

    M. Charlton, S. Eriksson, C. A. Isaac, S. C. Napoli & D. P. van der Werf

  10. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA

    J. Fajans, J. S. Wurtele & A. I. Zhmoginov

  11. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada, T2N 1N4

    T. Friesen & R. I. Thompson

  12. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 1Z1

    A. Gutierrez & W. N. Hardy

  13. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    J. S. Hangst

  14. Canadian Institute of Advanced Research, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5G 1ZA

    W. N. Hardy

  15. Department of Physics, Stockholm University, 10691, Stockholm, Sweden

    S. Jonsell

  16. Department of Physics, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZE, UK

    J. T. K. McKenna, P. Nolan & P. Pusa

  17. Department of Physics, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 1947907, USA

    F. Robicheaux

  18. Department of Physics, NRCN-Nuclear Research Center Negev, Beer Sheva, 84190, Israel

    E. Sarid

  19. Department of Physics, Marquette University, 1250 W Wisconsin Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53233, USA

    T. D. Tharp

  20. TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6T 2A3

    A. Capra, M. C. Fujiwara, D. R. Gill, L. Kurchaninov, K. Olchanski & A. Olin

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  1. A. Capra
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  2. C. Amole
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  3. M. D. Ashkezari
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  4. M. Baquero-Ruiz
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  5. W. Bertsche
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  6. E. Butler
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  7. C. L. Cesar
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  8. M. Charlton
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  9. S. Eriksson
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  10. J. Fajans
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  11. T. Friesen
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  12. M. C. Fujiwara
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  13. D. R. Gill
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  14. A. Gutierrez
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  15. J. S. Hangst
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  16. W. N. Hardy
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  17. M. E. Hayden
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  18. C. A. Isaac
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  19. S. Jonsell
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  20. L. Kurchaninov
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  21. A. Little
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  22. J. T. K. McKenna
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  23. S. Menary
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  24. S. C. Napoli
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  25. P. Nolan
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  26. K. Olchanski
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  27. A. Olin
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  28. A. Povilus
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  29. P. Pusa
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  30. F. Robicheaux
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  31. E. Sarid
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  32. D. M. Silveira
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  33. C. So
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  34. T. D. Tharp
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  35. R. I. Thompson
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  36. D. P. van der Werf
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  37. Z. Vendeiro
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  38. J. S. Wurtele
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  39. A. I. Zhmoginov
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  40. A. E. Charman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Capra.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Symmetries in Subatomic Physics (SSP 2015), Victoria, Canada, 8-12 June 2015

Edited by Michael Gericke and Gerald Gwinner

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Cite this article

Capra, A., Amole, C., Ashkezari, M.D. et al. Limit on the electric charge of antihydrogen. Hyperfine Interact 238, 9 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10751-016-1382-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10751-016-1382-6

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