Excited Antihydrogen

Synopsis

The asymmetry between matter and antimatter in our universe is a major motivation for antimatter research. In recent years, the first antimatter atoms have been produced and the simplest one of them - antihydrogen - examined by a collaboration of international scientists based at the Centre europeenne pour la recherche nucleaire (CERN). They have been trapping enough antihydrogen atoms to investigate its gravitational behaviour, its charge and its interaction with light. In my talk, I will present the results of a recent publication (2016) in which they report measurement of positron transitions in a magnetic field, comparing it to normal hydrogen electron spectra. After a short reminder about energy levels in atomic physics, I will talk about the experimental methods of confining antihydrogen and whether they have found anything interesting yet.