An improved limit on the charge of antihydrogen from stochastic acceleration

Nature
M AhmadiA I Zhmoginov

Abstract

Antimatter continues to intrigue physicists because of its apparent absence in the observable Universe. Current theory requires that matter and antimatter appeared in equal quantities after the Big Bang, but the Standard Model of particle physics offers no quantitative explanation for the apparent disappearance of half the Universe. It has recently become possible to study trapped atoms of antihydrogen to search for possible, as yet unobserved, differences in the physical behaviour of matter and antimatter. Here we consider the charge neutrality of the antihydrogen atom. By applying stochastic acceleration to trapped antihydrogen atoms, we determine an experimental bound on the antihydrogen charge, Qe, of |Q| < 0.71 parts per billion (one standard deviation), in which e is the elementary charge. This bound is a factor of 20 less than that determined from the best previous measurement of the antihydrogen charge. The electrical charge of atoms and molecules of normal matter is known to be no greater than about 10(-21)e for a diverse range of species including H2, He and SF6. Charge-parity-time symmetry and quantum anomaly cancellation demand that the charge of antihydrogen be similarly small. Thus, our measurement constitutes an ...Continue Reading

References

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Citations

Dec 23, 2016·Nature·M AhmadiJ S Wurtele
Jan 23, 2016·Nature·Thomas J Phillips
Feb 21, 2018·Philosophical Transactions. Series A, Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences·W A Bertsche
Feb 21, 2018·Philosophical Transactions. Series A, Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences·S Eriksson
Apr 6, 2018·Nature·M AhmadiJ S Wurtele
Jan 5, 2021·Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and Biological Sciences·Yasunori Yamazaki
Apr 2, 2021·Nature·C J BakerJ S Wurtele

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