Department of Physics & Astronomy Colloquium
New Physics with Antimatter Traps and Trap-based Beams
4:00 pm –
5:00 pm
Jorgensen Hall Room: 136
Contact:
Physics Department, (402) 472-2770, paoffice@unl.edu
Dr. Clifford Surko will present his colloquium topic, “New Physics with Antimatter Traps and Trap-based Beams” via Zoom. A Zoom room will be set-up in JH 136 for people who want to attend in person. Coffee and cookies will be available before at 3:30pm.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://unl.zoom.us/j/96810389150
Abstract: Novel positron traps have enabled new investigations with low-energy antimatter [1]. This talk will dis-cuss recent successes and the tools that enabled them. Goals of these experiments are fundamental tests of gravity and symmetries predicted by field theories (e.g., the CPT theorem), understanding astrophysical pro-cesses, and the characterization of materials. Unlike electrons, which are copious in our world of matter, their antiparticles (positrons) are scarce (e.g., currents of sub-picoamps instead of amps) and antiprotons are even harder to obtain. The need to keep positrons isolated from ordinary matter motivated the development of techniques to store them in vacuum and to tailor their delivery for specific applications. Examples discussed include the study of antihydrogen; formation of the di-positronium molecule, Ps2, (the first many-electron, many-positron state, e+e-e+e-), novel Ps atom beams, study of vibrational resonances in positron annihilation, and positron-molecule bound states. Two particularly challenging goals will also be discussed: the creation and study of a positronium-atom Bose-Einstein condensed gas (BEC) and a classical “pair” (i.e., e+ - e-) plasma.
[1] J. Fajans and C. M. Surko, Plasma and Trap-Based Techniques for Science with Antimatter, Phys. Plasmas 27, 030601 (2020).
Join Zoom Meeting
https://unl.zoom.us/j/96810389150
Abstract: Novel positron traps have enabled new investigations with low-energy antimatter [1]. This talk will dis-cuss recent successes and the tools that enabled them. Goals of these experiments are fundamental tests of gravity and symmetries predicted by field theories (e.g., the CPT theorem), understanding astrophysical pro-cesses, and the characterization of materials. Unlike electrons, which are copious in our world of matter, their antiparticles (positrons) are scarce (e.g., currents of sub-picoamps instead of amps) and antiprotons are even harder to obtain. The need to keep positrons isolated from ordinary matter motivated the development of techniques to store them in vacuum and to tailor their delivery for specific applications. Examples discussed include the study of antihydrogen; formation of the di-positronium molecule, Ps2, (the first many-electron, many-positron state, e+e-e+e-), novel Ps atom beams, study of vibrational resonances in positron annihilation, and positron-molecule bound states. Two particularly challenging goals will also be discussed: the creation and study of a positronium-atom Bose-Einstein condensed gas (BEC) and a classical “pair” (i.e., e+ - e-) plasma.
[1] J. Fajans and C. M. Surko, Plasma and Trap-Based Techniques for Science with Antimatter, Phys. Plasmas 27, 030601 (2020).