EXKALIBUR: Towards a Kaonic Atoms Periodic Table to test Fundamental Interactions
Abstract
Kaonic atoms, formed when a negatively charged kaon replaces an electron, provide a unique laboratory to test fundamental interactions at low energies. EXKALIBUR (EXtensive Kaonic Atoms research: from LIthium and Beryllium to URanium) is a program to perform systematic, high-precision X-ray spectroscopy of selected kaonic atoms across the periodic table at the DANE accelerator at the National Laboratory of Frascati (INFN-LNF). Here, we outline its detector-driven strategy: Silicon Drift Detectors for 10-40 keV transitions in light targets (Li, Be, B, O), CdZnTe detectors for 40-300 keV lines in intermediate- systems (Mg, Al, Si, S), and a High-Purity Germanium detector for high- atoms (Se, Zr, Ta, Mo, W, Pb), complemented by VOXES, a high-resolution crystal spectrometer for sub-eV studies. EXKALIBUR plans to (i) reduce the charged-kaon mass uncertainty below 10 keV, (ii) produce a database of nuclear shifts and widths to constrain multi-nucleon K-nucleus interaction models, and (iii) provide precision data for testing bound-state QED in strong fields. We summarize the planned measurements and expected sensitivities within DANE luminosities.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2510.21519,
title = {EXKALIBUR: Towards a Kaonic Atoms Periodic Table to test Fundamental Interactions},
author = {Simone Manti and Leonardo Abbene and Francesco Artibani and Massimiliano Bazzi and Giacomo Borghi and Damir Bosnar and Mario Bragadireanu and Antonino Buttacavoli and Mario Carminati and Alberto Clozza and Francesco Clozza and Luca De Paolis and Raffaele Del Grande and Kamil Dulski and Laura Fabbietti and Carlo Fiorini and Ivica Friščić and Mihai Iliescu and Paul Indelicato and Masa Iwasaki and Alexander Khreptak and Johan Marton and Pawel Moskal and Hiromasa Ohnishi and Kristian Pischicchia and Fabio Principato and Alessandro Scordo and Francesco Sgaramella and Michał Silarski and Diana Sirghi and Florin Sirghi and Magdalena Skurzok and Antonio Spallone and Kairo Toho and Lorenzo Toscano and Oton Vazquez Doce and Catalina Curceanu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.21519},
year = {2025}
}