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The DAΦNE electron-positron collider of the Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati of INFN is a worldwide unique low-energy kaon source and for this reason is suitable for low-energy kaon physics like kaonic atoms and kaon-nucleons/nuclei interaction studies. Kaonic atoms are atomic systems where an electron is replaced by a negatively charged kaon, containing the strange quark, which interacts in the lowest orbits with the nucleus also by the strong interaction. As a result, their study offers the unique opportunity to perform experiments equivalent to scattering at vanishing relative energy. This allows to study the strong interaction between the antikaon and the nucleon or the nucleus “at threshold”, without the need of ad hoc extrapolation to zero energy, as in scattering experiments. The most precise kaonic hydrogen measurement to date, together with an exploratory measurement of kaonic deuterium, were carried out by the SIDDHARTA collaboration at the DAΦNE electron-positron collider of LNF-INFN, by combining the excellent quality kaon beam delivered by the collider with new experimental techniques, as fast and precise Silicon-Drift X-ray Detectors. The measurement of kaonic deuterium will be realized in the near future by SIDDHARTA-2, a major upgrade of SIDDHARTA.

The investigations of light kaonic atoms offer the unique opportunity to perform experiments equivalent to scattering at vanishing relative energies, being their atomic binding energies in the keV range. This allows the determination of the hadron-nucleus interaction at threshold without the need of an extrapolation to zero relative energy. The energy shift and broadening of the lowest-lying states of such atoms, induced by the kaon-nucleus strong interaction, can be determined with high precision from atomic X-ray spectroscopy. The lightest atomic systems, kaonic hydrogen and kaonic deuterium, deliver the isospin-dependent kaon-nucleon scattering lengths. The most precise kaonic hydrogen measurement to date, together with an exploratory measurement of kaonic deuterium, were carried out by the SIDDHARTA collaboration at the DAΦNE electron-positron collider of LNF-INFN. The measurement of kaonic deuterium will be realized in the near future by SIDDHARTA-2, a major upgrade of SIDDHARTA. A correlated study of the kaon-nuclei interaction at momenta below 130 MeV/c is carried out by the AMADEUS collaboration, using the KLOE detector and dedicated targets inserted near the collider interaction point. In this paper an overview of the main results obtained by SIDDHARTA together with the future plans, the SIDDHARTA-2 experiment and with the preliminary results of the study of charged antikaons interacting with nuclei by the AMADEUS collaboration, are shown. (Less)