High-precision laser spectroscopy of antiprotonic helium atomcules and effects of collisions at high-density conditions

Abstract

We have performed laser spectroscpy of metastable antiprotonic helium atoms (or “atomcules”) (\({\bar p}\)He+) and have observed a density dependence of the resonance vacuum wavelengths for the known transitions (n,l)=(39,35)→(38,34) and (37,34)→(36,33). They showed linear red-shifts of 0.61±0.01 GHz and 0.22±0.02 GHz per 1 g℞, respectively. With the shift parameters above, the transition vacuum wavelengths were extrapolated to zero-density limits, yielding λ0 = 597.2570± 0.0003 nm and λ0 = 470.7220±0.0006 nm, respectively. These values were compared with the result of recent theoretical calculations on the energy of the Coulombic three-body system, including relativistic corrections and the Lamb shift. The agreements between our experimental values and the calculations have become as good as 2×10-6. This sets a severe constraint on the antiproton charge (\(- Q_{\bar p} \)) and mass (\(M_{\bar p} \)) with |Q p - \(Q_{\bar p} \)|/e < 5 × 10-7 and |M p - \(M_{\bar p} \)|/M p < 5 × 10-7, under a more precisely known constraint on the charge-to-mass ratio. Thus we have opened a new possibility of measuring fundamental constants of the antiproton.