An experimental limit on the charge of antihydrogen

C. Amole, M. D. Ashkezari, M. Baquero-Ruiz, W. Bertsche, E. Butler, A. Capra, C. L. Cesar, M. Charlton, S. Eriksson, J. Fajans (), T. Friesen, M. C. Fujiwara, D. R. Gill, A. Gutierrez, J. S. Hangst (), W. N. Hardy, M. E. Hayden, C. A. Isaac, S. Jonsell, L. Kurchaninov, A. Little, N. Madsen, J. T. K. McKenna, S. Menary, S. C. Napoli, P. Nolan, K. Olchanski, A. Olin, A. Povilus, P. Pusa, C.Ø. Rasmussen, F. Robicheaux, E. Sarid, D. M. Silveira, C. So, T. D. Tharp, R. I. Thompson, D. P. van der Werf, Z. Vendeiro, J. S. Wurtele (), A. I. Zhmoginov and A. E. Charman
Additional contact information
C. Amole: York University
M. D. Ashkezari: Simon Fraser University
M. Baquero-Ruiz: University of California at Berkeley
W. Bertsche: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
E. Butler: Centre for Cold Matter, Imperial College
A. Capra: York University
C. L. Cesar: Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
M. Charlton: College of Science, Swansea University
S. Eriksson: College of Science, Swansea University
J. Fajans: University of California at Berkeley
T. Friesen: University of Calgary
M. C. Fujiwara: TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall
D. R. Gill: TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall
A. Gutierrez: University of British Columbia
J. S. Hangst: CERN
W. N. Hardy: University of British Columbia
M. E. Hayden: Simon Fraser University
C. A. Isaac: College of Science, Swansea University
S. Jonsell: Stockholm University
L. Kurchaninov: TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall
A. Little: University of California at Berkeley
N. Madsen: College of Science, Swansea University
J. T. K. McKenna: University of Liverpool
S. Menary: York University
S. C. Napoli: College of Science, Swansea University
P. Nolan: University of Liverpool
K. Olchanski: TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall
A. Olin: TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall
A. Povilus: University of California at Berkeley
P. Pusa: University of Liverpool
C.Ø. Rasmussen: Aarhus University
F. Robicheaux: Purdue University
E. Sarid: NRCN-Nuclear Research Center Negev
D. M. Silveira: Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
C. So: University of California at Berkeley
T. D. Tharp: University of California at Berkeley
R. I. Thompson: University of Calgary
D. P. van der Werf: College of Science, Swansea University
Z. Vendeiro: University of California at Berkeley
J. S. Wurtele: University of California at Berkeley
A. I. Zhmoginov: University of California at Berkeley
A. E. Charman: University of California at Berkeley

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract The properties of antihydrogen are expected to be identical to those of hydrogen, and any differences would constitute a profound challenge to the fundamental theories of physics. The most commonly discussed antiatom-based tests of these theories are searches for antihydrogen-hydrogen spectral differences (tests of CPT (charge-parity-time) invariance) or gravitational differences (tests of the weak equivalence principle). Here we, the ALPHA Collaboration, report a different and somewhat unusual test of CPT and of quantum anomaly cancellation. A retrospective analysis of the influence of electric fields on antihydrogen atoms released from the ALPHA trap finds a mean axial deflection of 4.1±3.4 mm for an average axial electric field of 0.51 V mm−1. Combined with extensive numerical modelling, this measurement leads to a bound on the charge Qe of antihydrogen of Q=(−1.3±1.1±0.4) × 10−8. Here, e is the unit charge, and the errors are from statistics and systematic effects.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms4955 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms4955

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4955

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().