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arXiv:2407.00651

A new technique to measure gravitational mass of ultra-cold matter and its implications for antimatter studies

Boaz Raz, Gavriel Fleurov, Roi Holtzman, Nir Davidson, E. Sarid

Published Jun 30, 2024• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Measuring the effect of gravity on antimatter is a longstanding problem in physics that has significant implications for our understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe. Here, we present a technique to measure the gravitational mass of atoms, motivated by a recent measurement of antimatter atoms in CERN [1]. We demonstrate the results on ultra-cold atoms by measuring the surviving fraction of atoms gradually released from a quadrupole magnetic trap, which is tilted due to gravitational potential. We compare our measurements with a Monte Carlo simulation to extract the value of the gravitational constant. The difference between the literature value for g, the local acceleration due to gravity, and the measured value is $(-1.9 \pm 12^{stat} \pm 5^{syst}) \times 10^{- 4} g$. We demonstrate the importance of various design parameters in the experiment setup, and estimate their contribution to the achievable accuracy in future experiments. Our method demonstrates simplicity, precision, and reliability, paving the way for future precision studies of the gravitational force on antimatter. It also enables a precise calibration of atom traps based on the known gravitational attraction of normal matter to Earth.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2407.00651

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Measuring the effect of gravity on antimatter is a longstanding problem in physics that has significant implications for our understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe. Here, we present a technique to measure the gravitational mass of atoms, motivated by a recent measurement of antimatter atoms in CERN [1]. We demonstrate the results on ultra-cold atoms by measuring the surviving fraction of atoms gradually released from a quadrupole magnetic trap, which is tilted due to gravitational potential. We compare our measurements with a Monte Carlo simulation to extract the value of the gravitational constant. The difference between the literature value for g, the local acceleration due to gravity, and the measured value is (−1.9±12stat±5syst)×10−4g(-1.9 \pm 12^{stat} \pm 5^{syst}) \times 10^{- 4} g(−1.9±12stat±5syst)×10−4g. We demonstrate the importance of various design parameters in the experiment setup, and estimate their contribution to the achievable accuracy in future experiments. Our method demonstrates simplicity, precision, and reliability, paving the way for future precision studies of the gravitational force on antimatter. It also enables a precise calibration of atom traps based on the known gravitational attraction of normal matter to Earth.
Measuring the effect of gravity on antimatter is a longstanding problem in physics that has significant implications for our understanding of the fundamental nature of the universe. Here, we present a technique to measure the gravitational mass of atoms, motivated by a recent measurement of antimatter atoms at CERN [Nature (London) 621, 716 (2023)]. We demonstrate our technique on cold atoms by measuring the fraction of atoms that survive in the trap after gradually softening a quadrupole magnetic trap in a gravitational potential. We compare our measurements with a Monte Carlo simulation to extract the value of the gravitational acceleration. The difference between the accepted value for ggg, the local acceleration due to gravity, and the measured value is $(\ensuremath{-}1.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{12}^{\text{stat}}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}{40}^{\text{syst}})\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}g$. We demonstrate the importance of various design parameters in the experiment setup and estimate their contribution to the achievable accuracy in future experiments. Our method demonstrates simplicity, precision, and reliability, facilitating future precision studies of the gravitational force on antimatter. It can also be used to precisely calibrate atom traps based on the known gravitational attraction of ordinary matter to Earth.
We describe two experiments where atom interferometry is applied for precision measurements of gravitational effects. In the first, we measure the Newtonian gravitational constant G using an atom interferometry gravity-gradiometer which combines a rubidium fountain, a juggling scheme for fast launch of two atomic clouds, and Raman interferometry. We show that the sensor is able to detect the gravitational field produced by source masses and G is measured with better than 10-2 accuracy. In the second experiment, using ultra-cold strontium atoms in a vertical optical lattice and observing persistent Bloch oscillations for several seconds, we measure gravity acceleration with micromet-ric spatial resolution. We discuss the prospects for the study of gravitational forces at short distances and show that unexplored regions can be investigated in the search for deviations from Newtonian gravity.
Atom interferometry is a quantum sensor technology that uses ultra-cold atoms placed in entangled quantum states to detect minute changes in local fields arising from gravitational waves and ultra-light dark matter. Their extreme sensitivity to accelerations has been demonstrated for measurements of Newton’s gravitation constant, tests of the Equivalence Principle, and measurement of local gravity gradients. The search for ultra-light dark matter and measurements of gravitational waves requires interferometer baselines greater than approximately 100 m. In understanding the fundamental systematics and backgrounds of these detectors, we have discovered that atmospheric and seismic effects, even though physically decoupled from the atoms which are in vacuum and free-fall, are still detectable by the quantum phase of the atoms. From a different perspective these “noise” sources are also interesting signals that we may be able to understand better with these sensor platforms leading to cross-disciplinary studies in Earth sciences.
Different experiments are ongoing to measure the effect of gravity on cold neutral antimatter atoms such as positronium, muonium and antihydrogen. Among those, the project GBAR in CERN aims to measure precisely the gravitational fall of ultracold antihydrogen atoms. In the ultracold regime, the interaction of antihydrogen atoms with a surface is governed by the phenomenon of quantum reflection which results in bouncing of antihydrogen atoms on matter surfaces. This allows the application of a filtering scheme to increase the precision of the free fall measurement. In the ultimate limit of smallest vertical velocities, antihydrogen atoms are settled in gravitational quantum states in close analogy to ultracold neutrons (UCNs). Positronium is another neutral system involving antimatter for which free fall under gravity is currently being investigated at UCL. Building on the experimental techniques under development for the free fall measurement, gravitational quantum states could also be observed in positronium. In this contribution, we review the status of the ongoing experiments and discuss the prospects of observing gravitational quantum states of antimatter and their implications.
Different experiments are ongoing to measure the effect of gravity on cold neutral antimatter atoms such as positronium, muonium, and antihydrogen. Among those, the project GBAR at CERN aims to measure precisely the gravitational fall of ultracold antihydrogen atoms. In the ultracold regime, the interaction of antihydrogen atoms with a surface is governed by the phenomenon of quantum reflection which results in bouncing of antihydrogen atoms on matter surfaces. This allows the application of a filtering scheme to increase the precision of the free fall measurement. In the ultimate limit of smallest vertical velocities, antihydrogen atoms are settled in gravitational quantum states in close analogy to ultracold neutrons (UCNs). Positronium is another neutral system involving antimatter for which free fall under gravity is currently being investigated at UCL. Building on the experimental techniques under development for the free fall measurement, gravitational quantum states could also be observed in positronium. In this contribution, we report on the status of the ongoing experiments and discuss the prospects of observing gravitational quantum states of antimatter and their implications.
We propose experiments with atomic hydrogen gas at ultra-low temperatures T < 100 μ K when the thermal energy of atoms is comparable with the changes of their potential energy in the Earth gravity field. At these conditions we suggest implementing a gravitational spectroscopy for studies of quantum properties of ultra-cold atomic hydrogen and its interactions with matter and gravity, similar to experiments with ultra-cold neutrons (Nesvizhevsky et al. Nature 415 , 297 2002 ). A magnetic trap used for reaching the Bose-Einstein Condensation (Fried et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 , 3811 1998 ) can be used for cooling a large number of H atoms below 1 mK. Evaporative cooling over the trap barrier allows effective cooling of the vertical degree of freedom of the trapped atoms. Releasing these ultra-slow atoms from the trap onto the cold surface of superfluid helium will allow studies of quantum bounces and stationary gravitational states of H atoms in the potential well created by this surface and the field of Earth gravity. Experimental study of properties of gravitational quantum states of hydrogen and quantum reflection of ultracold hydrogen from surface would be of major importance for designing similar experiments with antihydrogen, which are currently prepared in CERN.