Experimental evidence of antiproton reflection by a solid surface
Abstract
We report here experimental evidence of the reflection of a large fraction of a beam of low energy antiprotons by an aluminum wall. This derives from the analysis of a set of annihilations of antiprotons that come to rest in rarefied helium gas after hitting the end wall of the apparatus. A Monte Carlo simulation of the antiproton path in aluminum indicates that the observed reflection occurs primarily via a multiple Rutherford-style scattering on Al nuclei, at least in the energy range 1-10 keV where the phenomenon is most visible in the analyzed data. These results contradict the common belief according to which the interactions between matter and antimatter are dominated by the reciprocally destructive phenomenon of annihilation.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0802.2893,
title = {Experimental evidence of antiproton reflection by a solid surface},
author = {A. Bianconi and M. Corradini and A. Cristiano and M. Leali and E. Lodi Rizzini and L. Venturelli and N. Zurlo and R Dona},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0802.2893},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
5 pages with 5 figures