Observation of the effect of gravity on the motion of antimatter

Einstein’s general theory of relativity from 1915 1 remains the most successful description of gravitation. From the 1919 solar eclipse 2 to the observation of gravitational waves 3 , the theory has passed many crucial experimental tests. However, the evolving concepts of dark matter and dark energy...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nature (London) Vol. 621; no. 7980; pp. 716 - 722
Main Authors:	Anderson, E. K., Baker, C. J., Bertsche, W., Bhatt, N. M., Bonomi, G., Capra, A., Carli, I., Cesar, C. L., Charlton, M., Christensen, A., Collister, R., Cridland Mathad, A., Duque Quiceno, D., Eriksson, S., Evans, A., Evetts, N., Fabbri, S., Fajans, J., Ferwerda, A., Friesen, T., Fujiwara, M. C., Gill, D. R., Golino, L. M., Gomes Gonçalves, M. B., Grandemange, P., Granum, P., Hangst, J. S., Hayden, M. E., Hodgkinson, D., Hunter, E. D., Isaac, C. A., Jimenez, A. J. U., Johnson, M. A., Jones, J. M., Jones, S. A., Jonsell, S., Khramov, A., Madsen, N., Martin, L., Massacret, N., Maxwell, D., McKenna, J. T. K., Menary, S., Momose, T., Mostamand, M., Mullan, P. S., Nauta, J., Olchanski, K., Oliveira, A. N., Peszka, J., Powell, A., Rasmussen, C. Ø., Robicheaux, F., Sacramento, R. L., Sameed, M., Sarid, E., Schoonwater, J., Silveira, D. M., Singh, J., Smith, G., So, C., Stracka, S., Stutter, G., Tharp, T. D., Thompson, K. A., Thompson, R. I., Thorpe-Woods, E., Torkzaban, C., Urioni, M., Woosaree, P., Wurtele, J. S.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 28-09-2023 Nature Publishing Group
Subjects:	639/766/36/1123 639/766/419/1131 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY Acceleration Antigravity Antihydrogen Antimatter ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS Atoms & subatomic particles Dark energy Earth Equivalence principle Exotic atoms and molecules Experimental particle physics Experiments Gravitation theory Gravitational effects Gravitational waves Gravity Gravity effects Humanities and Social Sciences Magnetic fields multidisciplinary PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS Quantum theory Relativity Science Science (multidisciplinary) Singularities Solar eclipses Theory of relativity
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	Einstein’s general theory of relativity from 1915 1 remains the most successful description of gravitation. From the 1919 solar eclipse 2 to the observation of gravitational waves 3 , the theory has passed many crucial experimental tests. However, the evolving concepts of dark matter and dark energy illustrate that there is much to be learned about the gravitating content of the universe. Singularities in the general theory of relativity and the lack of a quantum theory of gravity suggest that our picture is incomplete. It is thus prudent to explore gravity in exotic physical systems. Antimatter was unknown to Einstein in 1915. Dirac’s theory 4 appeared in 1928; the positron was observed 5 in 1932. There has since been much speculation about gravity and antimatter. The theoretical consensus is that any laboratory mass must be attracted 6 by the Earth, although some authors have considered the cosmological consequences if antimatter should be repelled by matter 7 – 10 . In the general theory of relativity, the weak equivalence principle (WEP) requires that all masses react identically to gravity, independent of their internal structure. Here we show that antihydrogen atoms, released from magnetic confinement in the ALPHA-g apparatus, behave in a way consistent with gravitational attraction to the Earth. Repulsive ‘antigravity’ is ruled out in this case. This experiment paves the way for precision studies of the magnitude of the gravitational acceleration between anti-atoms and the Earth to test the WEP. Magnetically confined neutral antihydrogen atoms released in a gravity field were found to fall towards Earth like ordinary matter, in accordance with Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 SC0019346 USDOE Office of Science (SC), Fusion Energy Sciences (FES)
ISSN:	0028-0836 1476-4687 1476-4687
DOI:	10.1038/s41586-023-06527-1