Illuminating Antimatter: the ALPHA antihydrogen experiment at CERN

by Prof. Jeffrey Scott Hangst (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, and Spokesperson, the ALPHA Collaboration at CERN)

Tuesday 16 May 2017, 15:15 → 16:15 Europe/Stockholm

Rydbergsalen (Fysiska institutionen-Physics Department)

We have recently become able to study atoms of antihydrogen - the antimatter equivalent of hydrogen. The question to be addressed is fundamental and profound: “Do matter and antimatter obey the same laws of physics?” The so-called Standard Model of fundamental particles and interactions requires that hydrogen and antihydrogen have the same spectrum. I will discuss the latest exciting development in antihydrogen physics: observation of a laser-driven transition (1S-2S) in trapped antihydrogen1. Precise measurement of the frequency of this transition could well be described as the ‘holy grail’ of physics with anti-atoms. To study antihydrogen, it must first be produced, then trapped2, and then held for long enough3 to observe a transition using very few anti-atoms. I will discuss the techniques necessary to achieve this latest milestone, and then consider the future of optical and microwave4 spectroscopy, and gravitational studies5 with antihydrpgen.