Abstract
The principle of the equivalence of gravitational and inertial mass is one of the cornerstones of general relativity. Considerable efforts have been made and are still being made to verify its validity. A quantum-mechanical formulation of gravity allows for non-Newtonian contributions to the force which might lead to a difference in the gravitational force on matter and antimatter. While it is widely expected that the gravitational interaction of matter and of antimatter should be identical, this assertion has never been tested experimentally. With the production of large amounts of cold antihydrogen at the CERN Antiproton Decelerator, such a test with neutral antimatter atoms has now become feasible. For this purpose, we have proposed to set up the AEGIS experiment at CERN/AD, whose primary goal will be the direct measurement of the Earth's gravitational acceleration on antihydrogen with a classical Moiré deflectometer.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 351-356 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms |
Volume | 266 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2008 |
Keywords
- Antimatter
- Deflectometry
- Gravity
- Matter interferometry
- Porous insulator
- Positronium
- Weak equivalence principle
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics
- Instrumentation