Constraints on Exotic Spin-Dependent Interactions Between Matter and Antimatter from Antiprotonic Helium Spectroscopy

Filip Ficek, Pavel Fadeev, Victor V. Flambaum, Derek F. Jackson Kimball, Mikhail G. Kozlov, Yevgeny V. Stadnik, and Dmitry Budker

Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 183002 – Published 4 May 2018

Abstract

Heretofore undiscovered spin-0 or spin-1 bosons can mediate exotic spin-dependent interactions between standard model particles. Here, we carry out the first search for semileptonic spin-dependent interactions between matter and antimatter. We compare theoretical calculations and spectroscopic measurements of the hyperfine structure of antiprotonic helium to constrain exotic spin- and velocity-dependent interactions between electrons and antiprotons.

Received 16 January 2018

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.183002

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Electronic structure of atoms & molecules Fine & hyperfine structure

Exotic atoms & molecules

Perturbative methods

Atomic, Molecular & OpticalParticles & Fields

Authors & Affiliations

Filip Ficek^1,*, Pavel Fadeev^2,3, Victor V. Flambaum^2,4, Derek F. Jackson Kimball⁵, Mikhail G. Kozlov^6,7, Yevgeny V. Stadnik², and Dmitry Budker^2,8,9

¹Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Łojasiewicza 11, 30-348 Kraków, Poland
²Helmholtz Institute Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55099 Mainz, Germany
³Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, Fakultät für Physik, Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, 80333 München, Germany
⁴School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
⁵Department of Physics, California State University—East Bay, Hayward, California 94542-3084, USA
⁶Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute of NRC “Kurchatov Institute”, Gatchina 188300, Russia
⁷St. Petersburg Electrotechnical University LETI, Prof. Popov Str. 5, 197376 St. Petersburg, Russia
⁸Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-7300, USA
⁹Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA