AEg̅IS latest results

The validity of the Weak Equivalence Principle (WEP) as predicted by General Relativity has been tested up to astounding precision using ordinary matter. The lack hitherto of a stable source of a probe being at the same time electrically neutral, cold and stable enough to be measured has prevented highaccuracy testing of the WEP on anti-matter. The AEg̅IS (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) experiment located at CERN's AD (Antiproton Decelerator) facility aims at producing such a probe in the form of a pulsed beam of cold anti-hydrogen, and at measuring by means of a moiré deflectometer the gravitational force that Earth's mass exerts on it. Low temperature and abundance of the H̅ are paramount to attain a high precision measurement. A technique employing a charge-exchange reaction between antiprotons coming from the AD and excited positronium atoms is being developed at AEg̅IS and will be presented hereafter, alongside an overview of the experimental apparatus and the current status of the experimen

Measuring the free fall of antihydrogen

After the first production of cold antihydrogen by the ATHENA and ATRAP experiments ten years ago, new second-generation experiments are aimed at measuring the fundamental properties of this anti-atom. The goal of AEGIS (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) is to test the weak equivalence principle by studying the gravitational interaction between matter and antimatter with a pulsed, cold antihydrogen beam. The experiment is currently being assembled at CERN's Antiproton Decelerator. In AEGIS, antihydrogen will be produced by charge exchange of cold antiprotons with positronium excited to a high Rydberg state (n > 20). An antihydrogen beam will be produced by controlled acceleration in an electric-field gradient (Stark acceleration). The deflection of the horizontal beam due to its free fall in the gravitational field of the earth will be measured with a moire deflectometer. Initially, the gravitational acceleration will be determined to a precision of 1%, requiring the detection of about 105 antihydrogen atoms. In this paper, after a general description, the present status of the experiment will be reviewed

Quality control of B-lines analysis in stress Echo 2020

Background The effectiveness trial “Stress echo (SE) 2020” evaluates novel applications of SE in and beyond coronary artery disease. The core protocol also includes 4-site simplified scan of B-lines by lung ultrasound, useful to assess pulmonary congestion. Purpose To provide web-based upstream quality control and harmonization of B-lines reading criteria. Methods 60 readers (all previously accredited for regional wall motion, 53 B-lines naive) from 52 centers of 16 countries of SE 2020 network read a set of 20 lung ultrasound video-clips selected by the Pisa lab serving as reference standard, after taking an obligatory web-based learning 2-h module ( http://se2020.altervista.org ). Each test clip was scored for B-lines from 0 (black lung, A-lines, no B-lines) to 10 (white lung, coalescing B-lines). The diagnostic gold standard was the concordant assessment of two experienced readers of the Pisa lab. The answer of the reader was considered correct if concordant with reference standard reading ±1 (for instance, reference standard reading of 5 B-lines; correct answer 4, 5, or 6). The a priori determined pass threshold was 18/20 (≥ 90%) with R value (intra-class correlation coefficient) between reference standard and recruiting center) > 0.90. Inter-observer agreement was assessed with intra-class correlation coefficient statistics. Results All 60 readers were successfully accredited: 26 (43%) on first, 24 (40%) on second, and 10 (17%) on third attempt. The average diagnostic accuracy of the 60 accredited readers was 95%, with R value of 0.95 compared to reference standard reading. The 53 B-lines naive scored similarly to the 7 B-lines expert on first attempt (90 versus 95%, p = NS). Compared to the step-1 of quality control for regional wall motion abnormalities, the mean reading time per attempt was shorter (17 ± 3 vs 29 ± 12 min, p < .01), the first attempt success rate was higher (43 vs 28%, p < 0.01), and the drop-out of readers smaller (0 vs 28%, p < .01). Conclusions Web-based learning is highly effective for teaching and harmonizing B-lines reading. Echocardiographers without previous experience with B-lines learn quickly.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploring the WEP with a pulsed cold beam of antihydrogen

The AEGIS experiment, currently being set up at the Antiproton Decelerator at CERN, has the objective of studying the free fall of antimatter in the Earth's gravitational field by means of a pulsed cold atomic beam of antihydrogen atoms. Both duration of free fall and vertical displacement of the horizontally emitted atoms will be measured, allowing a first test of the WEP with antimatter

Development and data analysis of a position detector for AEḡIS (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy)

AEḡIS (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) is an antimatter experiment based at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, whose goal is to carry out the first direct measurement of the Earth&rsquo;s gravitational acceleration on antimatter. The outcome of such measurement would be the first precision test of the Weak Equivalence Principle in a completely new area. According to WEP, all bodies fall with the same acceleration regardless of their mass and composition. AEḡIS will attempt to achieve its aim by measuring the gravitational acceleration (ḡ) for antihydrogen with 1% relative precision. The first step towards the final goal is the formation of a pulsed, cold antihydrogen beam, which will be performed by a charge exchange reaction between laser excited (Rydberg) positronium and cold (100 mK) antiprotons. The antihydrogen atoms will be accelerated by an inhomogeneous electric field (Stark acceleration) to form a beam whose free fall due to Earth&rsquo;s gravity will be measured with a moir&eacute; deflectometer coupled to a hybrid position detector. This detector will consist of an active silicon part, where the annihilation of antihydrogen takes place, followed by an emulsion part. The work in this thesis is part of the R&amp;D efforts for the construction of the silicon position detector. The results presented here are from beam test studies of low energy antiproton annihilations in silicon sensors. The outcome of these tests defined the basis for the final design parameters for the silicon position detector. This thesis is based on three papers. The first paper reports on the results of the very first study of low energy (0-700 keV) antiproton annihilations in a segmented silicon detector. The results include cluster and energy deposition studies, as well as a first comparison with simulation models for low energy antiproton annihilation in silicon. The second paper presents the results of a study on the signatures of an annihilation event in different silicon sensors which were designed to detect minimum ionizing particles or slow charged hadrons. The characteristics of the clusters due to antiproton annihilations were investigated for silicon detectors with various geometries. The correlation of the clusters charateristics, such as the released energy and the size provided a better overview of the performance of the microstrip technology when compared to pixel detector technologies. The third paper compares two different silicon sensor technologies (MAPS and 3D pixel) used for the detection of low energy antiprotons in order to study the impact of the thickness of the detector on the cluster characteristics, as well as to estimate the achievable position resolution. Comparison with simulation models are also reported, which proved to account for the intrinsic technological differences in the two sensors. The work and the results in this thesis work have contributed to a better understanding of the annihilation process in silicon and proved that silicon detectors can be used for direct detection of low energy antiprotons. A first comparison between experimental data and Monte Carlo simulation results for low energy antiproton annihilation is also reported, suggesting areas where the improvement of simulation models is possible

Antimatter annihilation detection with AEgIS

AE ̄ gIS (Antimatter Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy) is an antimatter exper- iment based at CERN, whose primary goal is to carry out the first direct measurement of the Earth’s gravitational acceleration on antimatter. A precise measurement of antimatter gravity would be the first precision test of the Weak Equivalence Principle for antimatter. The principle of the experiment is based on the formation of antihydrogen through a charge exchange reaction between laser excited (Rydberg) positronium and ultra-cold antiprotons. The antihydrogen atoms will be accelerated by an inhomogeneous electric field (Stark acceleration) to form a pulsed cold beam. The free fall of the antihydrogen due to Earth’s gravity will be measured using a moiré de- flectometer and a hybrid position detector. This detector is foreseen to consist of an active silicon part, where the annihilation of antihydrogen takes place, followed by an emulsion part coupled to a fiber time-of-flight detector. This overview presents the current results from the R&D; efforts for the construction of the silicon position detector. Low energy antiproton annihilations in silicon were studied in detail using different silicon sensor technologies. A first comparison between experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations for low energy antiproton annihilation is also re- ported, suggesting areas where the improvement of simulation models is possible. The outcome of these tests defined the basis for the final design parameters of the silicon position detector. This detector will consist of a 50 m m thick silicon strip sensor bonded to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with self-triggering readout capabilities and a timing resolution in the order of m

Detection of low energy antiproton annihilations in a segmented silicon detector

The goal of the AEḡIS experiment at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) at CERN, is to measure directly the Earth’s gravitational acceleration on antimatter by measuring the free fall of a pulsed, cold antihydrogen beam. The final position of the falling antihydrogen will be detected by a position sensitive detector. This detector will consist of an active silicon part, where the annihilations take place, followed by an emulsion part. Together, they allow to achieve 1% precision on the measurement of ḡ with about 600 reconstructed and time tagged annihilations. We present here the prospects for the development of the AEḡIS silicon position sentive detector and the results from the first beam tests on a monolithic silicon pixel sensor, along with a comparison to Monte Carlo simulations

Comparison of planar and 3D silicon pixel sensors used for detection of low energy antiprotons

The principle aim of the AEḡIS experiment at CERN is to measure the acceleration of antihydrogen due to Earth’s gravitational field. This would be a test of the Weak Equivalence Principle, which states that all bodies fall with the same acceleration independently of their mass and composition. The effect of Earth’s gravitational field on antimatter will be determined by measuring the deflection of the path of the antihydrogen from a straight line. The position of the antihydrogen will be found by detecting its annihilation on the surface of a silicon detector. The gravitational measurement in AEḡIS will be performed with a gravity module, which includes the silicon detector, an emulsion detector and a scintillating fibre time-offlight detector. As the experiment attempts to determine the gravitational acceleration with a precision of 1 %, a position resolution better than 10 μm is required. Here we present the results of a study of antiproton annihilations in a 3D silicon pixel sensor and compare the results with a previous study using a monolithic active pixel sensor. This work is part of a larger study on different silicon sensor technologies needed for the development of a silicon position detector for the AEḡIS experiment. The 3D detector together with its readout electronics have been originally designed for the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The direct annihilation of low energy antiprotons (∼ 100 keV) takes place in the first few μm of the silicon sensor and we show that the charged products of the annihilation can be detected with the same sensor. The present study also aims to understand the signature of an antiproton annihilation event in segmented silicon detectors and compares it with a GEANT4 simulation model. These results will be used to determine the geometrical and process parameters to be adopted by the silicon annihilation detector to be installed in AEḡIS

Antiproton beams with low energy spread for antihydrogen production

A low energy antiproton transport from the ASACUSA's antiproton accumulation trap (MUSASHI trap) to the antihydrogen production trap (double cusp trap) is developed. The longitudinal antiproton energy spread after the transport line is 0.23±0.02 eV, compared with 15 eV with a previous method used in 2012. This reduction is achieved by an adiabatic transport beamline with several pulse-driven coaxial coils. Antihydrogen atoms are synthesized by directly injecting the antiprotons into a positron plasma, resulting in the higher production rate.ISSN:1748-022

Positron bunching and electrostatic transport system for the production and emission of dense positronium clouds into vacuum

We describe a system designed to re-bunch positron pulses delivered by an accumulator supplied by a positron source and a Surko-trap. Positron pulses from the accumulator are magnetically guided in a 0.085 T field and are injected into a region free of magnetic fields through a μμ-metal field terminator. Here positrons are temporally compressed, electrostatically guided and accelerated towards a porous silicon target for the production and emission of positronium into vacuum. Positrons are focused in a spot of less than 4 mm FWTM in bunches of ∼8 ns FWHM. Emission of positronium into the vacuum is shown by single shot positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy