A consistent quantum mechanical calculation of partial cross-sections leading to different final states of antiprotonic helium atom was performed. For the four-body scattering wave function, corresponding to the initial state, as well as for the antiprotonic helium wave function, appearing in the final tate, adiabatic approximations was used. Calculations were carried out for a wide range of antiprotonic helium states and incident energies of the antiproton. Obtained energy dependances of some cross sections show a rich low energy structure.
A full quantum mechanical calculation of partial cross-sections leading to different final states of antiprotonic helium atom was performed. Calculations were carried out for a wide range of antiprotonic helium states and incident (lab) energies of the antiproton.
Antiprotonic helium, a neutral exotic three-body system consisting of a helium nucleus, an electron and an antiproton, is being studied at the Antiproton Decelerator of CERN by the ASAUCSA collaboration. Using laser spectroscopy of the energy levels of the antiproton in this system and comparison to theory, a value of the antiproton-to-electron mass ratio with an error of 3 ppb could be obtained. This result agrees with the most precise measurement of the value of the proton and allows us to extract a limit of the equality of the proton and antiproton charge and mass of 2 ppb. Using microwave …
We report a determination of the antiproton magnetic moment, measured in a three-body system, independent of previous experiments. We present results from a systematic study of the hyperfine (HF) structure of antiprotonic helium where we have achieved a precision more than a factor of 10 better than our first measurement. A comparison between the experimental results and three-body quantum electrodynamic (QED) calculations leads to a new value for the antiproton magnetic moment is -2.7862 (83) nuclear magnetons, which agrees with the magnetic moment of the proton within 2.9 x 10e-3.
Recent progress in the spectroscopy of antiprotonic helium has allowed for measuring the separation between components of the hyperfine structure (HFS) of the (37,35) metastable states with an accuracy of 300 MHz, equivalent to a relative accuracy of 3x10^{-5}. The analysis of the uncertainties of the available theoretical results on the antiprotonic helium HFS shows that the accuracy of the value of the dipole magnetic moment of the antiproton (currently known to only 0.3 %) may be improved by up to 2 orders of magnitude by measuring the splitting of appropriately selected components of the H…
The state dependent quenching mechanism of metastable antiprotonic He atoms by contaminants is suggested to explain existing experimental data. The effect of antiproton transfer from the antiprotonic He to noble gas contaminants is shown to play a significant role. Preliminary estimations have been done in the framework of the coupled channels model. The obtained results support the idea of strong dependence of quenching cross-sections on the antiprotonic states quantum numbers and enable to explain qualitatively existing discrepancies between experimental results, obtained for different conta…
Heretofore undiscovered spin-0 or spin-1 bosons can mediate exotic spin-dependent interactions between standard-model particles. Here we carry out the first search for semileptonic spin-dependent interactions between matter and antimatter. We compare theoretical calculations and spectroscopic measurements of the hyperfine structure of antiprotonic helium to constrain exotic spin- and velocity-dependent interactions between electrons and antiprotons.
We have estimated the shift and broadening of the resonance lines in the spectrum of antiprotonic helium atoms $\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{+}$ implanted in solid helium $^4$He. The application of the response function for crystalline helium has enabled determination of the contributions from the collective degrees of freedom to the shift and broadening. It occurs that the broadening due to the collective motion is negligible compared to the natural line width. The available pair-correlation functions for crystalline $^4$He have been applied for estimating the resonance-line shift due to collisions of…
Using a newly developed laser-microwave-laser resonance method, we observed a pair of microwave transitions between hyperfine levels of the $(n,L)=(37,35)$ state of antiprotonic helium. This experiment confirms the quadruplet hyperfine structure due to the interaction of the antiproton orbital angular momentum, the electron spin and the antiproton spin as predicted by Bakalov and Korobov. The measured frequencies of $ν_{\text HF}^+ =12.89596 \pm 0.00034$ GHz and $ν_{\text HF}^- =12.92467 \pm 0.00029$ GHz agree with recent theoretical calculations on a level of $ 6 \times10^{-5}$.
A systematic study of the decay rates of antiprotonic helium (\pbhef and \pbhet) at CERN AD (Antiproton Decelerator) has been made by a laser spectroscopic method. The decay rates of some of its short-lived states, namely those for which the Auger rates $γ_{\mathrm{A}}$ are much larger than their radiative decay rates ($γ_{\mathrm{rad}} \sim 1$ $μ$s$^{-1}$), were determined from the time distributions of the antiproton annihilation signals induced by laser beams, and the widths of the atomic resonance lines. The magnitude of the decay rates, especially their relation with the transition multip…
In this work we describe the latest results for the measurements of the hyperfine structure of antiprotonic helium-3. Two out of four measurable super-super-hyperfine SSHF transition lines of the (n,L)=(36,34) state of antiprotonic helium-3 were observed. The measured frequencies of the individual transitions are 11.12548(08) GHz and 11.15793(13) GHz, with an increased precision of about 43% and 25% respectively compared to our first measurements with antiprotonic helium-3 [S. Friedreich et al., Phys. Lett. B 700 (2011) 1--6]. They are less than 0.5 MHz higher with respect to the most recent t…
We report on preliminary results from a systematic study of the hyperfine (HF) structure of antiprotonic helium. This precise measurement which was commenced in 2006, has now been completed. Our initial analysis shows no apparent density or power dependence and therefore the results can be averaged. The statistical error of the observable M1 transitions is a factor of 60 smaller than that of three body quantum electrodynamic (QED) calculations, while their difference has been resolved to a precision comparable to theory (a factor of 10 better than our first measurement). This difference is sen…
The shift and broadening of the resonance lines in spectrum of the antiprotonic helium atoms $\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{+}$ located in fluid and superfluid $^4$He have been calculated. The contributions to the shift and broadening from collective degrees of freedom in liquid $^4$He have been estimated using the phenomenological response function. Effects due to the interaction of $\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{+}$ with a single $^4$He atom have been calculated in the quasistatic approximation using the experimental pair correlation function. It has been shown that an implanted $\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{+}$ atom es…
We study the ionization process involving antiproton and hydrogen in the energy range between 0.1 keV to 500 keV, using single center close coupling approximation. We construct the scattering wave function using B-spline bases. The results obtained for ionization of atomic hydrogen are compared with other existing theoretical calculations as well as with the available experimental data. The present results are found to be encouraging. We also employed this method to study the ionization of ionized helium in the energy range between 1 and 500 keV. On comparision, the present results are found t…
We present total cross sections for single and double ionization of helium by antiproton impact over a wide range of impact energies from 10 keV/amu to 1 MeV/amu. A non-perturbative time-dependent close-coupling method (TDCC) is applied to fully treat the correlated dynamics of the ionized electrons. Excellent agreement is obtained between our calculations and experimental measurements of total single and double ionization cross sections at high impact energies, whereas for lower impact energies, some discrepancies with experiment are found. At an impact energy of 1 MeV we also find that the d…
We report the first measurements of the inelastic spin exchange collision rate between the Hyperfine (HF) levels of antiprotonic helium. We measure the time dependent evolution of the (37, 35) substates to obtain an inelastic collision rate which qualitatively agrees with recent theoretical calculations. We evaluate these results by using the obtained rate as a parameter in a rigorous simulation which we then compare to to previously measured data. We find that our measurement slightly underestimates the collision rate and therefore conclude that the actual value most probably falls within the…
We present a fully {\it ab initio}, non-perturbative, time-dependent approach to describe single and double ionization of helium by proton and antiproton impact. A flexible and accurate finite-element discrete-variable-representation is applied to discretize the problem on the radial grid in spherical coordinates. Good agreement with the most recent experimental data for absolute angle-integrated cross sections is obtained over a wide range of incident projectile energies between 3 keV and 6 MeV. Furthermore, angle-differential cross sections for two-electron ejection are predicted for a proto…
The long range interaction between an antiprotonic helium atom $\bar{p}$He$^+$ and helium atom in its ground state is studied. We calculate the dispersion coefficients $C_6$ using the Complex Coordinate Rotation (CCR) formalism in order to comply with the resonant nature of metastable states of the antiprotonic helium. We present as well numerical data on static dipole polarizabilities of antiprotonic helium states. The obtained coefficients $C_6$ may be used to estimate the collisional shift and broadening of transition lines in a low density precision spectroscopy of the antiprotonic helium.
We consider a neutralization of excited antiprotonic helium ion accompanied by antiproton transitions to lower states in collisions with helium atoms $(\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{2+})_{nl} + \mathrm{He} \rightarrow \left[ (\bar{p}\mathrm{He}^{2+})_{n_f l_f} e\right]_{1s} + \mathrm{He}^+$ in low-temperature medium. Interactions in the input and output channels are taken similar to the potentials of $\mathrm{H}^+ - \mathrm{He}$ ($X^1Σ$) and $\mathrm{H} - \mathrm{He}^+$ ($A^1Σ$) systems, respectively. The final term is shifted down by the antiproton transition energy. Therefore initial and final terms c…
We present improved theoretical calculations of transition frequencies for the fundamental transitions $(L\!=\!0,v\!=\!1)\to(L'\!=\!0,v'\!=\!0)$ in the hydrogen molecular ions H$_2^+$ and HD$^+$ with a relative uncertainty $4\cdot10^{-11}$ and for the two-photon transitions in the antiprotonic helium atom with a relative uncertainty $10^{-10}$. To do that, the one-loop self-energy correction of order $α(Zα)^6$ is derived in the two Coulomb center approximation, and numerically evaluated in the case of the aforementioned transitions. The final results also include a complete set of other spin-i…
We theoretically investigate the single and double ionization of the He atom by antiproton impact for projectile energies ranging from $3$~keV up to $1000$~keV. We obtain accurate total cross sections by directly solving the fully correlated two-electron time-dependent Schrödinger equation and by performing classical trajectory Monte-Carlo calculations. The obtained quantum-mechanical results are in excellent agreement with the available experimental data. Along with the total cross sections, we also present the first fully \textit{ab initio} doubly differential data for single ionization at 1…
We develop a numerical method to calculate the Bethe logarithm for resonant states. We use the Complex Coordinate Rotation (CCR) formalism to describe resonances as time-independent Schrödinger solutions. To get a proper expression for the Bethe logarithm we apply the generalization of the second order perturbation theory to an isolated CCR eigenstate. Using the developed method we perform a systematic calculation of the Bethe logarithm for metastable states in the antiprotonic helium He$^+\bar{p}\,$ atoms with precision of 7--8 significant digits. We also recalculate the nonrelativistic energ…
Numerical ab initio variational calculations of the transition probabilities and ac Stark shifts in two-photon transitions of antiprotonic helium atoms driven by two counter-propagating laser beams are presented. We found that sub-Doppler spectroscopy is in principle possible by exciting transitions of the type (n,L)->(n-2,L-2) between antiprotonic states of principal and angular momentum quantum numbers n~L-1~35, first by using highly monochromatic, nanosecond laser beams of intensities 10^4-10^5 W/cm^2, and then by tuning the virtual intermediate state close (e.g., within 10-20 GHz) to the r…
We revisit recent developments in the theoretical foundations of time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT). TDDFT is then applied to the calculation of total cross sections for ionization processes in the antiproton-Helium collision system. The Kohn-Sham potential is approximated as the sum of the Hartree-exchange potential and a correlation potential that was proposed in the context of laser-induced ionization. Furthermore, some approaches to the problem of calculating the ionization probabilities from the density are discussed. Small projectile energies below 5keV are considered as we…
We report the initial results from a systematic study of the hyperfine (HF) structure of antiprotonic helium (n,l) = (37,~35) carried out at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) at CERN. We performed a laser-microwave-laser resonance spectroscopy using a continuous wave (cw) pulse-amplified laser system and microwave cavity to measure the HF transition frequencies. Improvements in the spectral linewidth and stability of our laser system have increased the precision of these measurements by a factor of five and reduced the line width by a factor of three compared to our previous results. A compariso…
This paper describes measurements of the hyperfine structure of two antiprotonic atoms that are planned at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) at CERN. The first part deals with antiprotonic helium, a three-body system of alpha-particle, antiproton and electron that was previously studied at LEAR. A measurement will test existing three-body calculations and may - through comparison with these theories - determine the magnetic moment of the antiproton more precisely than currently available, thus providing a test of CPT invariance. The second system, antihydrogen, consisting of an antiproton and a …
We extend the results of Bakalov D., B.Jeziorski, T.Korona, K.Szalewicz, E.Tchoukova, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 84} (2000) 2350, on one-photon electric dipole transition line shift and broadening to the case of two-photon transitions. As an example we consider the laser induced transition in antiprotonic helium produced in helium gas target. The transition is between antiprotonic helium states $(n,l)=(33,32)$ and $(31,30)$. PACS 32.70.Jz, 34.20.Gj, 36.10.-k
Physical laws are believed to be invariant under the combined transformations of charge, parity and time reversal (CPT symmetry). This implies that an antimatter particle has exactly the same mass and absolute value of charge as its particle counterpart. Metastable antiprotonic helium ($\bar{p}{\rm He}^+$) is a three-body atom consisting of a normal helium nucleus, an electron in its ground state and an antiproton ($\bar{p}$) occupying a Rydberg state with high principal and angular momentum quantum numbers, respectively $n$ and $\ell$, such that $n\sim\ell\sim 38$. These atoms are amenable to…
Quantum calculation of the collision-induced line-shape effects in antiprotonic helium and the new accurate ab initio $\bar{p}$He$^{+}$-He potential energy surface
We report on the first experimental results for microwave spectroscopy of the hyperfine structure of antiprotonic He-3. Due to the helium nuclear spin, antiprotonic He-3 has a more complex hyperfine structure than antiprotonic He-4 which has already been studied before. Thus a comparison between theoretical calculations and the experimental results will provide a more stringent test of the three-body quantum electrodynamics (QED) theory. Two out of four super-super-hyperfine (SSHF) transition lines of the (n,L)=(36,34) state were observed. The measured frequencies of the individual transitions…
Collisions of metastable antiprotonic helium atoms with atoms of the medium induce, among other processes, transitions between hyperfine structure (HFS) states, as well as shifts and broadening of microwave M1 spectral lines. In order to obtain matrix potential of interaction between $(\mathrm{\bar{p} He} ^+)$ and $\mathrm{He}$, we have calculated the potential energy surface (PES) in the framework of unrestricted Hartree-Fock method taking into account electron correlations in the second-order perturbation theory (MP2). With this potential, the system of close-coupling equations for HFS chann…
Three-charge-particle collisions with participation of ultra-slow antiprotons ($\bar{\rm{p}}$) is the subject of this work. Specifically we compute the total cross sections and corresponding thermal rates of the following three-body reactions: $\bar{\rm p}+(e^+e^-) \rightarrow \bar{\rm{H}} + e^-$ and $\bar{\rm p}+(μ^+μ^-) \rightarrow \bar{\rm{H}}_μ + μ^-$, where $e^-(μ^-)$ is an electron (muon) and $e^+(μ^+)$ is a positron (antimuon) respectively, $\bar{\rm{H}}=(\bar{\rm p}e^+)$ is an antihydrogen atom and $\bar{\rm{H}}_μ=(\bar{\rm p}μ^+)$ is a muonic antihydrogen atom, i.e. a bound state of $…
Energy loss in collisions of charged projectiles with many-electron systems can be dealt with in time-dependent density functional theory by invoking Ehrenfest's theorem for the time evolution of expectation values of observables. We derive an exact expression for the evaluation of energy loss for systems described in a target reference frame, which is a functional of the electron density. Using an approximation scheme we then apply the expression to antiproton-atom collisions at intermediate and high energies within the framework of the basis generator method. The calculations are performed w…
Precise numerical calculation of radiofrequency intervals between hyperfine sublevels of the $(37,35)$ state of the antiprotonic helium-4 atom is presented. Theoretical consideration includes the QED corrections of order $mα^6$ to the electron spin-orbit interaction. The effective Hamiltonian is derived using the formalism of the nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics (NRQED).
Electronic stopping cross sections (SCS) of nickel, silicon and nickel-silicon alloys for protons and helium (He) ions are studied in the regime of medium and low energy ion scattering, i.e., for ion energies in the range from 500 eV to 200 keV. For protons, at velocities below the Bohr velocity the deduced SCS is proportional to the ion velocity for all investigated materials. In contrast, for He ions non-linear velocity scaling is observed in all investigated materials. Static calculations using density functional theory (DFT) available from literature accurately predict the SCS of Ni and Ni…
Probabilties of formation of various hydrogenic species during the exothermic nuclear $(n,{}^3$He$;t,p)-$reaction of atomic helium-3 with slow neutrons are determined. In particular, we have found that the probability to form the tritium atom ${}^3$H in its ground state is $\approx$ 55.19287 %, while analogous probability to form the protium atom ${}^1$H is $\approx$ 1.02363 %. Analogous probabilities of formation of the negatively charged hydrogen ions, i.e. the ${}^3$H$^{-}$ and ${}^1$H$^{-}$ ions, in the nuclear $(n,{}^3$He$; t,p)-$reaction with slow neutrons, are $\approx$ 7.8680 % and $\a…
The ATHENA experiment at the Antiproton Decelerator facility at CERN aims at testing CPT symmetry with antihydrogen. An overview of the experiment, together with preliminary results of development towards the production of slow antihydrogen are reported.
An experiment is proposed to excite the 'forbidden' 1s2s 3S1 - 1s2s 1S0 magnetic dipole (M1) transition at 1557 nm in a collimated and slow atomic beam of metastable helium atoms. It is demonstrated that an excitation rate of 5000 /s can be realised with the beam of a 2W narrowband telecom fiber laser intersecting the atomic beam perpendicularly. A Doppler-limited sub-MHz spectroscopic linewidth is anticipated. Doppler-free excitation of 2% of trapped and cooled atoms may be realised in a one-dimensional optical lattice geometry, using the 2W laser both for trapping and spectroscopy. The very …
We investigated the impact of surface oxygen on the ion yield for He$^+$ ions scattered from different single crystalline surfaces in low-energy ion scattering. Initially clean Al(111) and Ta(111) were exposed to molecular oxygen and ion spectra for different oxidation stages and different primary energies were recorded. A comparison of ion yields normalized to the differential scattering cross section as well as experimental factors allows obtaining information about the influence of oxygen on charge exchange processes. The decrease in the ion yield of both metals with exposure cannot be expl…
We investigate single photon double ionization (PDI) of helium at photon energies of 440 and 800 eV. We observe doubly charged ions with close to zero momentum corresponding to electrons emitted back-to-back with equal energy. These slow ions are the unique fingerprint of an elusive quasi-free PDI mechanism predicted by Amusia et al. nearly four decades years ago [J. Phys. B 8, 1248, (1975)] . It results from the non-dipole part of the electromagnetic interaction. Our experimental data are in excellent agreement with calculations performed using the convergent close coupling and time dependent…
Hitherto unknown elementary particles can be searched for with atomic spectroscopy. We conduct such a search using a potential that results from the longitudinal polarization of a pseudovector particle. We show that such a potential, inversely proportional to the boson's mass squared, $V \propto 1/M^2$, can stay finite at $M \to 0$ if the theory is renormalizable. We also look for a pseudoscalar boson, which induces a contact spin-dependent potential that does not contribute to new forces searched for in experiments with macroscopic objects, but may be seen in atomic spectroscopy. We extract l…
Metastable helium molecules (He$_2^*$) have been generated by striking a discharge in a supersonic expansion of helium gas from a pulsed valve. When operating the pulsed valve at room temperature, 77K, and 10K, the mean velocity of the supersonic beam was measured to be 1900m/s, 980m/s, and 530m/s, respectively. A 55-stage Zeeman decelerator operated in a phase-stable manner was then used to further reduce the beam velocity and tune it in the range between 100 and 150m/s. The internal-state distribution of the decelerated sample was established by photoionization spectroscopy.
We report on the realization of Bose-Einstein condensation of metastable helium-4. After exciting helium to its metastable state in a novel pulse-tube cryostat source, the atomic beam is collimated and slowed. We then trap several 10^8 atoms in a magneto-optical trap. For subsequent evaporative cooling, the atoms are transferred into a magnetic trap. Degeneracy is achieved with typically a few 10^6 atoms. For detection of atomic correlations with high resolution, an ultrafast delay-line detector has been installed. Consisting of four quadrants with independent readout electronics that allow fo…
