Lorentz and CPT tests involving antiprotons
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, 37235 (United States)
Perhaps the largest gap in our understanding of nature at the smallest scales is a consistent quantum theory underlying the Standard Model and General Relativity. Substantial theoretical research has been performed in this context, but observational efforts are hampered by the expected Planck suppression of deviations from conventional physics. However, a variety of candidate models predict minute violations of both Lorentz and CPT invariance. Such effects open a promising avenue for experimental research in this field because these symmetries are amenable to Planck-precision tests.The low-energy signatures of Lorentz and CPT breaking are described by an effective field theory called the Standard-Model Extension (SME). In addition to the body of established physics (i.e., the Standard Model and General Relativity), this framework incorporates all Lorentz- and CPT-violating corrections compatible with key principles of physics. To date, the SME has provided the basis for the analysis of numerous tests of Lorentz and CPT symmetry involving protons, neutrons, electrons, muons, and photons. Discovery potential exists in neutrino physics.A particularly promising class of Planck-scale tests involve matter-antimatter comparisons at low temperatures. SME predictions for transition frequencies in such systems include both matter-antimatter differences and sidereal variations. For example, in hydrogen-antihydrogen spectroscopy, leading-order effects in a 1S-2S transition as well as in a 1S Zeeman transition could exist that can be employed to obtain clean constraints. Similarly, tight bounds can be obtained from Penning-trap experiments involving antiprotons.
- OSTI ID:
- 20726640
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 793, Issue 1; Conference: Workshop on physics with ultra slow antiproton beams, Wako (Japan), 14-16 Mar 2005; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2121969; (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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