Subatomic, High Energy and Plasma Physics seminar series: Fredrik Parnefjord Gustafsson

Abstract: At the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), there is a unique laboratory known as the Antimatter Factory. In this facility, antiprotons, the antimatter counterpart of protons, are produced and slowed down using the ELENA and the Antiproton Decelerator (AD). These low-energy antiprotons are trapped in sophisticated experiments designed to test fundamental symmetries of nature, for example, by creating antihydrogen atoms to examine CPT symmetry and the effects of gravity on antimatter. Due to recent advancements in techniques for manipulating antiprotons, there has been a renewed interest in the study of antimatter-matter bound systems, especially antiprotonic atoms. In these exotic atoms, a heavy antiproton replaces an electron, forming orbits significantly closer to the nucleus than those of bound electrons. These deeply bound states create a unique environment for probing high-field quantum electrodynamics, study nuclear structure (such as the nuclear "skin"), and as a result of the antiproton annihilation on the nucleus, provides a novel mechanism for synthesizing highly charged, radioactive ions directly within a trapping environment. This seminar will present the state-of-the-art techniques currently being developed at this facility and the research prospects of this rapidly developing field.