Production of slow protonium in vacuum
Abstract
We descrbe how protonium, the quasi-stable antiproton-proton bound system, has been synthesized following the interaction of antiprotons with the molecular ion in a nested Penning trap environment. From a careful analysis of the spatial distributions of antiproton annihilation events in the ATHENA experiment, evidence is presented for protonium production with sub-eV kinetic energies in states around n = 70, with low angular momenta. This work provides a new two-body system for studies using laser spectroscopic techniques.
- Publication:
-
Hyperfine Interactions
- Pub Date:
- September 2006
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s10751-007-9529-0
- arXiv:
- arXiv:0801.3193
- Bibcode:
- 2006HyInt.172...97Z
- Keywords:
-
- Protonium;
- Exotic atoms;
- Antiprotons;
- High Energy Physics - Experiment
- E-Print:
- 9 pages with 5 figures and 1 table. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Trapped Charged Particles and Fundamental Physics (TCP 06), published in Hyperfine Interactions