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Antihydrogen

Antihydrogen consists of an antiproton and a


positron

Antihydrogen (H) is the antimatter


counterpart of hydrogen. Whereas the
common hydrogen atom is composed of
an electron and proton, the antihydrogen
atom is made up of a positron and
antiproton. Scientists hope studying
antihydrogen may shed light on the
question of why there is more matter
than antimatter in the universe, known as
the baryon asymmetry problem.[1]
Antihydrogen is produced artificially in
particle accelerators. In 1999, NASA gave
a cost estimate of $62.5 trillion per gram
of antihydrogen (equivalent to $92 trillion
today), making it the most expensive
material to produce.[2] This is due to the
extremely low yield per experiment, and
high opportunity cost of using a particle
accelerator.

Experimental history
Accelerators first detected hot
antihydrogen in the 1990s. ATHENA
studied cold H in 2002. It was first
trapped by the Antihydrogen Laser
Physics Apparatus (ALPHA) team at
CERN[3][4] in 2010, who then measured
the structure and other important
properties.[5] ALPHA, AEGIS, and GBAR
plan to further cool and study H atoms.

1S–2S transition
measurement

In 2016, the ALPHA experiment


measured the atomic electron transition
between the two lowest energy levels of
antihydrogen, 1S–2S. The results, which
are identical to that of hydrogen within
the experimental resolution, support the
idea of matter–antimatter symmetry and
CPT symmetry.[6]

In the presence of a magnetic field the


1S–2S transition splits into two hyperfine
transitions with slightly different
frequencies. The team calculated the
transition frequencies for normal
hydrogen under the magnetic field in the
confinement volume as:

fdd =2 466 061 103 064 (2) kHz


fcc =2 466 061 707 104 (2) kHz

A single-photon transition between S


states is prohibited by quantum selection
rules, so to elevate ground state
positrons to the 2S level, the confinement
space was illuminated by a laser tuned to
half the calculated transition frequencies,
stimulating allowed two photon
absorption.

Antihydrogen atoms excited to the 2S


state can then evolve in one of several
ways:

They can emit two photons and return


directly to the ground state as they
were
They can absorb another photon,
which ionizes the atom
They can emit a single photon and
return to the ground state via the 2P
state—in this case the positron spin
can flip or remain the same.

Both the ionization and spin-flip


outcomes cause the atom to escape
confinement. The team calculated that,
assuming antihydrogen behaves like
normal hydrogen, roughly half the
antihydrogen atoms would be lost during
the resonant frequency exposure, as
compared to the no-laser case. With the
laser source tuned 200 kHz below half
the transition frequencies, the calculated
loss was essentially the same as for the
no-laser case.
The ALPHA team made batches of
antihydrogen, held them for 600 seconds
and then tapered down the confinement
field over 1.5 seconds while counting
how many antihydrogen atoms were
annihilated. They did this under three
different experimental conditions:

Resonance: – exposing the confined


antihydrogen atoms to a laser source
tuned to exactly half the transition
frequency for 300 seconds for each of
the two transitions,
Off-resonance: – exposing the
confined antihydrogen atoms to a laser
source tuned 200 kilohertz below the
two resonance frequencies for 300
seconds each,
No-laser: – confining the antihydrogen
atoms without any laser illumination.

The two controls, off-resonance and no-


laser, were needed to insure that the
laser illumination itself was not causing
annihilations, perhaps by liberating
normal atoms from the confinement
vessel surface that could then combine
with the antihydrogen.

The team conducted 11 runs of the three


cases and found no significant difference
between the off-resonance and no laser
runs, but a 58% drop in the number of
events detected after the resonance
runs. They were also able to count
annihilation events during the runs and
found a higher level during the resonance
runs, again with no significant difference
between the off-resonance and no laser
runs. The results were in good
agreement with predictions based on
normal hydrogen and can be "interpreted
as a test of CPT symmetry at a precision
of 200 ppt."[7]

Characteristics
The CPT theorem of particle physics
predicts antihydrogen atoms have many
of the characteristics regular hydrogen
has; i.e. the same mass, magnetic
moment, and atomic state transition
frequencies (see atomic spectroscopy).[8]
For example, excited antihydrogen atoms
are expected to glow the same color as
regular hydrogen. Antihydrogen atoms
should be attracted to other matter or
antimatter gravitationally with a force of
the same magnitude that ordinary
hydrogen atoms experience.[3] This
would not be true if antimatter has
negative gravitational mass, which is
considered highly unlikely, though not yet
empirically disproven (see gravitational
interaction of antimatter).[9]

When antihydrogen comes into contact


with ordinary matter, its constituents
quickly annihilate. The positron
annihilates with an electron to produce
gamma rays. The antiproton, on the other
hand, is made up of antiquarks that
combine with quarks in either neutrons
or protons, resulting in high-energy pions,
that quickly decay into muons, neutrinos,
positrons, and electrons. If antihydrogen
atoms were suspended in a perfect
vacuum, they should survive indefinitely.

As an antielement, it is expected to have


exactly the same properties as
hydrogen.[10] For example, antihydrogen
would be a gas under standard
conditions and combine with antioxygen
to form antiwater, H2O.
Production
In 1995, the first antihydrogen was
produced by a team led by Walter Oelert
at CERN.[11] using a method first
proposed by Charles Munger Jr, Stanley
J Brodsky and Ivan Schmidt Andrade.[12]

In the LEAR, antiprotons from an


accelerator were shot at xenon
clusters,[13] producing electron-positron
pairs. Antiprotons can capture positrons
with probability about 10−19, so this
method is not suited for substantial
production, as calculated.[14][15][16]
Fermilab measured a somewhat different
cross section,[17] in agreement with
predictions of quantum
electrodynamics.[18] Both resulted in
highly energetic, or hot, anti-atoms,
unsuitable for detailed study.

Subsequently, CERN built the Antiproton


Decelerator (AD) to support efforts
towards low-energy antihydrogen, for
tests of fundamental symmetries. The
AD will supply several CERN groups.
CERN expects their facilities will be
capable of producing 10 million
antiprotons per minute.[19]

Low-energy antihydrogen

Experiments by the ATRAP and ATHENA


collaborations at CERN, brought together
positrons and antiprotons in Penning
traps, resulting in synthesis at a typical
rate of 100 antihydrogen atoms per
second. Antihydrogen was first produced
by ATHENA in 2002,[20] and then by
ATRAP[21] and by 2004, millions of
antihydrogen atoms were made. The
atoms synthesized had a relatively high
temperature (a few thousand kelvins),
and would hit the walls of the
experimental apparatus as a
consequence and annihilate. Most
precision tests require long observation
times.

ALPHA, a successor of the ATHENA


collaboration, was formed to stably trap
antihydrogen.[19] While electrically
neutral, its spin magnetic moments
interact with an inhomogeneous
magnetic field; some atoms will be
attracted to a magnetic minimum,
created by a combination of mirror and
multipole fields.[22]

In November 2010, the ALPHA


collaboration announced that they had
trapped 38 antihydrogen atoms for a
sixth of a second,[23] the first
confinement of neutral antimatter. In
June 2011, they trapped 309
antihydrogen atoms, up to 3
simultaneously, for up to 1,000
seconds.[24] They then studied its
hyperfine structure, gravity effects, and
charge. ALPHA will continue
measurements along with experiments
ATRAP, AEGIS and GBAR.

Larger antimatter atoms

Larger antimatter atoms such as


antideuterium (D), antitritium (T), and
antihelium (He) are much more difficult
to produce. Antideuterium,[25][26]
3
antihelium-3 ( He)[27][28] and antihelium-4
4
( He) nuclei[29] have been produced with
such high velocities that synthesis of
their corresponding atoms poses several
technical hurdles.
See also
Gravitational interaction of antimatter

References
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“FERMILAB-Pub-97/398-E E862 ... p and H
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antihydrogen: a new frontier in
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676. Bibcode:2010Natur.468..673A .
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PMID 21085118 .
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of antihydrogen for 1,000 seconds".
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25. Massam, T; Muller, Th.; Righini, B.;
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27. Antipov, Y.M.; et al. (1974).
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28. Arsenescu, R.; et al. (2003).
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29. Agakishiev, H.; et al. (2011).
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External links
Merrifield, Michael; Copeland, Ed. "H
Antihydrogen" . Sixty Symbols. Brady
Haran for the University of
Nottingham.

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