Production of Cold Positronium Atoms

• Authors: R. Brusa , S. Mariazzi , G. Consolati , A. Dupasquier , F. Quasso , M. Giammarchi
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Positronium will play a primary role in the next generation of antimatter experiments through the following antihydrogen production reaction: p̅ + Ps* → p̅e⁺ + e¯. In order to study antimatter physical properties (CPT (charge, parity, time) invariance and principle of equivalence test) it is necessary to keep this system at the lowest possible (sub-kelvin) temperatures. This requires the generation of a suitable flux of cold Ps atoms in a vacuum, a non-trivial requirement at the light of the present experimental results. In this paper we discuss the state of the actual knowledge on positronium formation and consequent emission from metallic surfaces and insulators and we show the opportunity to use suitable porous materials to cool positronium through collisions with the inner walls of the pores. We get a rough indication on the geometrical parameters of the pore and we propose a simple experiment to obtain the kinetic energy - and therefore the equivalent temperature - of emitted positronium without using a positron beam.

Keywords

EN

78.70.Bj; 36.10.Dr; 36.10.Gv

Discipline

• 78.70.Bj: Positron annihilation(for positron states, see 71.60.+z in electronic structure of bulk materials; for positronium chemistry, see 82.30.Gg in physical chemistry and chemical physics)
• 36.10.Dr: Positronium(see also 82.30.Gg Positronium chemistry)
• 36.10.Gv: Mesonic, hyperonic and antiprotonic atoms and molecules

• Publisher: Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Acta Physica Polonica A
• Year: 2008
• Volume: 113
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1301-1306

Dates

published

2008-05

received

2007-09-03

Contributors

author

R. Brusa

• Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitádi Trento, Via Sommarive 14, 38100 Trento, Italy

author

S. Mariazzi

• Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitádi Trento, Via Sommarive 14, 38100 Trento, Italy

author

G. Consolati

• Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, 20133 Milano, Italy

author

A. Dupasquier

• Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, 20133 Milano, Italy

author

F. Quasso

• Dipartimento di Fisica, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32, 20133 Milano, Italy

author

M. Giammarchi

• Infn Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy

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Identifiers

DOI

10.12693/APhysPolA.113.1301