A Technique for Directly Measuring the Gravitational Acceleration of Antihydrogen

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method to directly measure the gravitational acceleration of antihydrogen using a beam deflection and interferometry, aiming for 1% accuracy with current production capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a new experimental approach combining beam deflection and interferometry to measure antihydrogen's gravitational acceleration directly.

Findings

A feasible method for producing antihydrogen beams suitable for gravity measurement.

Potential to achieve 1% accuracy in measuring antihydrogen's gravitational acceleration.

The measurement's precision depends on the number of antihydrogen atoms produced.

Abstract

The gravitational force on antimatter has never been directly measured. A method is suggested for measuring the acceleration of antimatter $(\bar g)$ by measuring the deflection of a beam of neutral antihydrogen atoms in the Earth's gravitational field. While a simple position measurement of the beam could be used, a more efficient measurement can be made using a transmission interferometer. A 1% measurement of $\bar g$ should be possible from a beam of about 100,000 atoms, with the ultimate accuracy being determined largely by the number of antihydrogen atoms that can be produced. A method is suggested for producing an antihydrogen beam appropriate for this experiment.