MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUTE
OF QUANTUM OPTICS
Garching, 25th January 2013
Press Release
Proton size puzzle reinforced!
International team of scientists confirms surprisingly small proton radius
with laser spectroscopy of exotic hydrogen.
The initial results puzzled the world three years ago: the size of the proton (to be precise, its charge radius), measured in exotic hydrogen, in
which the electron orbiting the nucleus is replaced by a negatively
charged muon, yielded a value significantly smaller than the one from
previous investigations of regular hydrogen or electron-proton-scattering.
A new measurement by the same team confirms the value of the electric
charge radius and makes it possible for the first time to determine the
magnetic radius of the proton via laser spectroscopy of muonic hydrogen
(Science, January 25, 2013). The experiments were carried out at the Paul
Scherrer Institut (PSI) (Villigen, Switzerland) which is the only research
institute in the world providing the necessary amount of muons. The international collaboration included the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum
Optics (MPQ) in Garching near Munich, the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology ETH Zurich (Switzerland), the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), the Institut für Strahlwerkzeuge (IFSW) of the Universität Stuttgart,
Dausinger & Giesen GmbH, Stuttgart, the Universities of Coimbra and
Aveiro (Portugal), and the Laboratoire Kastler Brossel (LKB), Paris. The
new results fuel the debate as to whether the discrepancies observed can
be explained by standard physics, for example an incomplete understanding of the systematic errors that are inherent to all measurements, or
whether they are due to new physics.
Press &
Public Relations
Dr. Olivia Meyer-Streng
Phone:
+49 - 89 / 32 905-213
E-mail: [email protected]
The hydrogen atom has played a key role in the investigation of the fundamental laws of physics. Its nucleus consists of a single positively charged proton
orbited by a negatively charged electron, a model whose success dates from its
proposed by Bohr in 1913. The energy levels of this simplest of atoms can be
predicted with excellent precision from the theory of quantum electrodynamics.
However, the calculations have to take into account that – in contrast to the
point-like electron – the proton is an extended object with a finite size, made of
three quarks bound by so-call ‘gluons’. Therefore, the electric charge as well as
the magnetism of the proton is distributed over a certain volume. The extended
nature of the proton causes a shift of the energy levels in hydrogen. Hence the
electric and the magnetic charge radii can be deduced from a measurement of
the level shifts.
In 2010, the first results on the spectroscopic determination of the shift of the
so-called 2S energy level in muonic hydrogen were published. The exotic atoms were generated by bombarding a target of regular hydrogen with muons
from an accelerator at PSI. Muons behave a lot like electrons, except for their
mass: muons are 200 times heavier than electrons. The atomic orbit of the
muon is therefore much closer to the proton than the electron’s orbit in a regular hydrogen atom. This results in a much larger sensitivity of the muon’s energy level to the proton size and hence to a stronger shift of the energy levels.
Measuring the level shifts is very technologically demanding: muonic hydrogen
is very short-lived (muons decay after about two millionths of a second), so the
light pulses for the excitation of the resonance have to be fired onto the hydro-
Hans-Kopfermann-Str. 1
D-85748 Garching
Phone:+49 - 89 / 32 905-0
Fax:+49 - 89 / 32 905-200
gen target only nanoseconds after the detection of a muon. The new disk laser technology
developed by the Institut für Strahlwerkzeuge (IFSW) of the Universität Stuttgart was an important element to fulfil this requirement. The lasers necessary for exciting the resonance
were developed by the Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics in cooperation with the Laboratoire Kastler Brossel (Paris). Coimbra, Aveiro and Fribourg universities were responsible
for the development of the x-rays detectors.
In the experiment described in the newly published Science article, the energy shift was determined for another transition. This leads to a new measurement of the electric charge radius of the proton. Its value of 0.84087(39) femtometres (1 fm = 0.000 000 000 000 001 metre) is in good agreement with the one published in 2010, but 1.7 times as precise. The discrepancy with existing radius measurements made in regular hydrogen or by electron-protonscattering, the so-called proton size puzzle, has thus been reaffirmed.
In addition, the new measurement allows a determination of the magnetic radius of the proton for the first time by laser spectroscopy of muonic hydrogen. This results in a value of
0.87(6) femtometres, in agreement with all previous measurements. Though the precision is,
at present, of the same order as in other experiments, laser spectroscopy of muonic hydrogen has the potential of achieving a much better accuracy in the determination of the magnetic proton radius in the future.
Photo: Dr. Franz Kottmann, Dr. Randolf Pohl, and Dr. Daniel Covita (from left to right) in front of a
superconducting magnet (5 Tesla) in which the experiment is set up: both the myon detectors and the
hydrogen target are located inside the magnet. The strong magnetic field is necessary for collimating
the muon beam down to a size as small as the diameter of a pencil. © CREMA-collaboration, MPQ
Physicists around the world are actively seeking a solution to the proton size puzzle. Previous measurements in regular hydrogen and by electron-proton-scattering are being reanalyzed and even repeated. Theorists of various disciplines suggested ways to explain the discrepancy. Very interesting proposals explain the discrepancies by physics beyond the standard model. Other explanations suggest a proton structure of higher complexity than assumed today which only reveals itself under the influence of the heavy muon. New measurements are needed to check on these possibilities. Muon-proton-scattering experiments
are being developed at PSI, new precision measurements at the electron accelerator in
Mainz are being considered, and the PSI team plans to measure, for the first time ever, laser
spectroscopy of the muonic helium atom in the course of this year. The required modifications of the current laser system are being investigated in the frame of the project “Thin-disk
laser for muonic atoms spectroscopy” which (financed by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)) is carried out at the ETH
Zürich (Prof. Dr. Klaus Kirch, Dr. Aldo Antognini) and at the IFSW (Prof. Dr. Thomas Graf, Dr.
Andreas Voß). The Project “Muonic Helium” is also generously supported by the European
Research Council (ERC) by an ERC Starting Grant held by Dr. Randolf Pohl from the MPQ
in Garching. Olivia Meyer-Streng
Original publication:
Aldo Antognini, François Nez, Karsten Schuhmann, Fernando D. Amaro, François Biraben, João M. R.
Cardoso, Daniel S. Covita, Andreas Dax, Satish Dhawan, Marc Diepold, Luis M. P. Fernandes, Adolf
Giesen, Andrea L. Gouvea, Thomas Graf, Theodor W. Hänsch, Paul Indelicato, Lucile Julien, ChengYang Kao, Paul Knowles, Franz Kottmann, Eric-Olivier Le Bigot, Yi-Wei Liu, José A. M. Lopes, Livia
Ludhova, Cristina M. B. Monteiro, Françoise Mulhauser, Tobias Nebel, Paul Rabinowitz, Joaquim M.
F. dos Santos, Lukas A. Schaller, Catherine Schwob, David Taqqu, João F. C. A. Veloso, Jan
Vogelsang, Randolf Pohl
Proton structure from the measurement of 2S − 2P transition frequencies of muonic
hydrogen
Science, January 25, 2013
The experiment was the collaborative success of many institutes from various countries: MaxPlanck-Institute of Quantum Optics, Garching, Germany, Institute for Particle Physics, ETH Zurich,
Switzerland, Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS, and Université P. et M.
Curie, Paris, France, Dausinger & Giesen GmbH, Stuttgart, Germany, Departamento de Física,
Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal, Departamento de Física, Universidade de Aveiro, Portugal, Physics Department, Yale University, New Haven, USA, Institut für Strahlwerkzeuge, Universität Stuttgart,
Germany, Physics Department, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, Département de
Physique, Université de Fribourg, Switzerland, Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, USA, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany
Contact:
Dr. Randolf Pohl
Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics
Hans-Kopfermann-Straße 1
85748 Garching
Phone: +49 (0)89 / 32 905 -281
Fax: +49 (0)89 / 32 905 -200
E-mail: [email protected]
http://www.mpq.mpg.de/~rnp/
Dr. Aldo Antognini
ETH Zürich
CH-8093 Zürich
Phone: +41 (0)56 / 31 046 14
Fax: +41 (0)44 / 63 320 31
E-mail: [email protected]
https://muhy.web.psi.ch/wiki/
Prof. Dr. Theodor W. Hänsch
Chair of Experimental Physics,
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich
Max-Planck-Institute of Quantum Optics
Hans-Kopfermann-Straße 1,
85748 Garching
Phone: +49 (0)89 / 32 905 -702/712
Fax: +49 (0)89 / 32 905 -312
E-mail: [email protected]
Dr. Franz Kottmann
Paul Scherrer Institut
CH-5232 Villigen
Phone: +41 (0) 56 / 31 035 02
E-mail: [email protected]
Prof. Dr. Thomas Graf
Universität Stuttgart
Institut für Strahlwerkzeuge
Pfaffenwaldring 43
D-70569 Stuttgart
Phone: +49 (0)711 / 68 566 840
E-mail: [email protected]
Karsten Schuhmann
ETH Zürich
CH-8093 Zürich
Phone: +41 (0)44 / 63 320 31
E-mail: [email protected]
and
Daunsinger & Giesen GmbH
Rotebühlstrasse 87
D-70178 Stuttgart