Published March 19, 2013 | Version v1
Journal article

AEgIS experiment commissioning at CERN

  • 1. University of Genoa, Dept of Physics, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sez. di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova (Italy)
  • 2. Politecnico di Milano, LNESS and Dept of Physics, Via Anzani 42, 22100 Como, Italy and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sez. di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano (Russian Federation)
  • 3. Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, University of Bern, 3012 Bern (Switzerland)
  • 4. Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117312 (Russian Federation)
  • 5. University of Brescia, Dept of Mech. and Indust. Engineering, Via Branze 38, 25133 Brescia, Italy and Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sez. di Pavia, Via Agostino Bassi 6, 27100 Pavia (Italy)
  • 6. University of Heidelberg, Kirchhoff Institute for Physics, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg (Germany)
  • 7. Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento and INFN, Gruppo collegato di Trento, Via Sommarive 14, 38050 Povo, Trento (Italy)

Description

The AEgIS Experiment is an international collaboration based at CERN whose aim is to perform the first direct measurement of the gravitational acceleration g of antihydrogen in the gravitational field of the Earth. Cold antihydrogen will be produced with a pulsed charge exchange reaction in a cylindrical Penning trap where antiprotons will be cooled to 100mK. The cold antihydrogen will be produced in an excited Rydberg state and subsequently formed into a beam. The deflection of the antihydrogen beam will be measured by using Moiré deflectometer gratings. After being approved in late 2008, AEgIS started taking data in a commissioning phase early 2012. This report presents an overview of the AEgIS experiment, describes its current status and shows the first measurements on antiproton catching and cooling in the 5 T Penning catching trap. We will also present details on the techniques needed for the 100mK antihydrogen production, such as pulsed positronium production and its excitation with lasers.

Additional details

Identifiers

Publishing Information

Journal Title
AIP Conference Proceedings
Journal Volume
1521
Journal Issue
1
Journal Page Range
p. 144-153
ISSN
0094-243X
CODEN
APCPCS

Conference

Title
10. international workshop on non-neutral plasmas
Dates
27-30 Aug 2012
Place
Greifswald (Germany)

Optional Information

Notes
(c) 2013 American Institute of Physics