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Antimatter gravity with muonium

Authors :
Kaplan, Daniel M
Fischbach, Ephraim
Kirch, Klaus
Mancini, Derrick C
Phillips, James D
Phillips, Thomas J
Reasenberg, Robert D
Roberts, Thomas J
Terry, Jeff
Publication Year :
2016

Abstract

The gravitational acceleration of antimatter, $\bar{g}$, has never been directly measured and could bear importantly on our understanding of gravity, the possible existence of a fifth force, and the nature and early history of the universe. Three avenues appear feasible for such a measurement: antihydrogen, positronium, and muonium. The muonium measurement requires a novel monoenergetic, low-velocity, horizontal muonium beam directed at an atom interferometer. The precision three-grating interferometer can be produced in silicon nitride or ultrananocrystalline diamond using state-of-the-art nanofabrication. The required precision alignment and calibration at the picometer level also appear to be feasible. With 100 nm grating pitch, a 10% measurement of $\bar{g}$ can be made using some months of surface-muon beam time, and a 1% or better measurement with a correspondingly larger exposure. This could constitute the first gravitational measurement of leptonic matter, of 2nd-generation matter and, possibly, the first measurement of the gravitational acceleration of antimatter.<br />Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Presented at the Third Workshop on Antimatter Gravity (WAG2015), London, England, 4-7 August 2015

Details

Database :
arXiv
Publication Type :
Report
Accession number :
edsarx.1601.07222
Document Type :
Working Paper