Overview

This book describes the first ever antimatter free-fall experiment, known as ALPHA-g, which measures the effect of Earth’s gravity on antimatter atoms. The effect of gravity on antimatter has been a subject of speculation for decades and experimental measurements have been a long-term goal of the field. The experiment found that it does indeed fall down, and this represents a first step toward precise measurements of gravity on antimatter. Any observed difference, no matter how small, would have a profound impact on physics. This book presents major contributions to the ALPHA-g experiment. In particular, the author developed precise magnetic field measurement techniques and led an extensive campaign to characterize magnetic fields in the ALPHA-g experiment, a key enabling factor without which the experiments would not have been possible. The author was also one of the leaders of an effort to design and install new antimatter traps in the apparatus that will be required for future measurements. The book shows the big picture of the work in the context of the wider field, and gives clear and concise descriptions of the experimental protocol, the required supporting measurements, and hardware developments needed for this measurement and for those in the future.

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9783032071897

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Dr. Adam Powell is a research physicist with an interest in precision studies of antihydrogen. Adam is from the coastal city of Swansea in Wales and joined Swansea University in 2013 as an undergraduate in the physics program and had his first interactions with antimatter physics in lab courses with Prof. Michael Charlton. In early 2018 and now as a master’s student at Swansea, Adam joined the ALPHA experiment at the Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN) studying positron bunch manipulations under the guidance of Prof. Niels Madsen. In the fall of 2018 Adam continued work at CERN as a research assistant working with Dr. Timothy Friesen to build the new ALPHA-g gravity experiment. Dr. Friesen relocated to the University of Calgary in January 2019 and selected Adam as his first graduate student. Adam was enrolled as a UCalgary PhD student until 2024, spending a majority of his time based at CERN. He was awarded the Canadian Association of Physics Division of Nuclear Physics thesis prize. Adam is currently a research fellow at CERN, technical coordinator of the ALPHA experiment and has been broadening fields into muon/muonium physics through exchange fellowships in Japan.

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