Heidelberg 2015 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Physik der Hadronen und Kerne

HK 68: Invited Talks 5

HK 68.1: Invited Talk

Friday, March 27, 2015, 11:00–11:40, T/HS1

The GBAR antimatter gravity experiment — •Patrice Perez — IRFU, CEA Saclay France

The GBAR project (Gravitational Behaviour of Antihydrogen at Rest) at CERN, will measure the free fall acceleration of ultracold neutral antihydrogen atoms in the terrestrial gravitational field. The experiment consists in preparing antihydrogen ions (one antiproton and two positrons) and sympathetically cool them with Be+ ions to a few 10 microK. The ultracold ions will then be photo-ionized just above threshold, and the free-fall time over a known distance measured. I will describe the project, the accuracy that can be reached by standard techniques, and with possible improvements using quantum reflection of antihydrogen on surfaces.