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Physical Review Letters

Antihydrogen Formation via Antiproton Scattering with Excited Positronium

Alisher S. Kadyrov, C. M. Rawlins, A. T. Stelbovics, Igor Bray, M. Charlton

Published May 8, 2015• 63 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Utilizing the two-center convergent close-coupling method, we find a several order of magnitude enhancement in the formation of antihydrogen via antiproton scattering with positronium in an excited state over the ground state. The effect is greatest at the lowest energies considered, which encompass those achievable in experiment. This suggests a practical approach to creating neutral antimatter for testing its interaction with gravity and for spectroscopic measurements.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.114.183201

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Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Mar 23, 2001•10 citations
Utilizing the two-center convergent close-coupling method, we find a several order of magnitude enhancement in the formation of antihydrogen via antiproton scattering with positronium in an excited state over the ground state. The effect is greatest at the lowest energies considered, which encompass those achievable in experiment. This suggests a practical approach to creating neutral antimatter for testing its interaction with gravity and for spectroscopic measurements.
The two-center convergent close-coupling method is used to calculate antihydrogen (H‾)(\overline{\mathrm{H}})(H) formation via positronium (Ps) scattering on antiprotons (p‾)(\overline{p})(p​) at near threshold energies. For excited Ps of energy $\ensuremath{\varepsilon}$, the $1/\ensuremath{\varepsilon}$ behavior of the H‾\overline{\mathrm{H}}H formation cross sections is valid strictly only at the respective threshold, as is the $1/\sqrt{\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}$ behavior for Ps in the ground state. Simple equations are given for the $\overline{\mathrm{H}}(n\ensuremath{\le}4)$ formation cross sections from $\text{Ps}(n\ensuremath{\le}3)$ from zero to around 0.1 eV above threshold. Some of the implications of using p‾\overline{p}p​-Ps collisions to form antihydrogen in beams, and held in traps, are discussed.
Abstract The interaction of antiprotons with low-energy positronium atoms is a fundamental three-body problem whose significance is its utility for formation of antihydrogen. Particular importance resides in understanding processes involving excited positronium states. Until recently such studies were performed using classical techniques. However, they become inapplicable in the low-energy domain. Here we report the results of comprehensive quantum calculations, which include initial excited positronium states with principal quantum numbers up to ni = 5. Contrary to expectation from earlier work, there are only muted increases in the cross-sections for antihydrogen formation for ni > 3. We interpret this in terms of quantum suppression of the reaction at higher angular momenta. Furthermore, the cross-sections for elastic scattering are around two orders of magnitude higher, which we attribute to the degeneracy of the positronium states. We outline some experimental consequences of our results.
Antihydrogen formation cross sections are calculated for low-energy collisions of antiproton with positronium by the hyperspherical coupled-channel method. The scattering wavefunctions are expanded in terms of a large number of sector-adiabatic states associated with the n=1-4 states of antihydrogen and n=1-3 states of positronium in the asymptotic separated-atom region. The present formation cross sections differ considerably from those of the unitarized Born approximation reported by Mitroy and Stelbovics (1994). The disagreement becomes larger with decreasing collision energy owing to the different energy dependence of the cross sections. The authors have confirmed that the formation cross sections from the 2s and 2p states are larger than that from the ground state by one order of magnitude.
The formation of antihydrogen atoms from three-body collisions between positronium atoms and antiprotons plays a crucial role in the gravitational behavior of antihydrogen at rest (GBAR) experiment devoted to the measure of the action of gravity on antimatter. One of the main challenges facing this experiment is to find the means for increasing the production of antihydrogens which are produced by the reaction $\overline{p}+\text{Ps}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\overline{\text{H}}+{e}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ with an extremely low rate. Along these lines, we investigate here the possibility to influence the collision process by using a laser field. A perturbative approach combining the Coulomb-Born approximation for modeling the charged-particle collision and a first-order perturbation theory for describing laser-atom interactions is employed to estimate laser-mediated charge-exchange cross sections. By carefully considering the laser specifications compatible with the experimental constraints, we present an extensive study of the influence of the laser parameters (laser wavelength and intensity) on the cross sections in the energy range of interest for GBAR. We show that under special irradiation conditions the rate of antihydrogen production may be significantly increased by the presence of the laser field.
Antihydrogen is at the focus of antimatter research.One of the main aims is to perform a direct test of the fundamental CPT symmetry by comparing the spectroscopic properties of the ground-state antihydrogen atom with those of the hydrogen atom.In current experiments synthetized antihydrogen is formed mainly via the three-body recombination process after mixing positron and antiproton clouds together in a cryogenic trap.The major three-body formation process populates mainly highly excited Rydberg states, therefore before the antihydrogen atoms reach the ground-state additional processes may take place, such as collisional (de)excitation, ionization and spontaneous or stimulated radiative transitions.We have used a classical-trajectory Monte Carlo (CTMC) code along with regular atomic codes to generate a scattering database of rate coefficients in various experimentally achievable magnetic field strengths and in low temperature positron plasma conditions.We used these rates to calculate the evolution of level population of antihydrogen during formation, scattering and flight within our experimental conditions [1].The model and the results are presented.
The cross section for antihydrogen formation in collision of an antiproton with ground-state positronium has been calculated using the adiabatic hidden-crossing method. At collision velocities below the cross section maximum (3 keV) it is shown that the adiabatic approach provides a very simple description of the positron transfer process, in that capture occurs by a two-state mechanism involving coupling between the 1sσ and 2pσ potential curves only. Good numerical agreement with previous estimates is obtained. 1.