The wonderland of kaonic atoms: the SIDDHARTA experiment on DAPHNE

by Catalina Curceanu (INFN Frascati)

Monday 28 Nov 2011, 14:15 → 15:45 Europe/Berlin

Seminar room 3344 (TUM - Physics Department - Garching)

Kaonic atoms measurements offer the key to unlock secrets of the low-energy QCD in the strangeness sector, a field still largely unexplored. Their experimental studies allow to access fundamental information, such as the antikaon-nucleon isospin dependent scattering lengths, which are, in turn, vital information for understanding the mechanism of chiral symmetry breaking, for example. In the last years, the studies of kaonic atoms entered in a real wonderland, with the advent of new experimental techniques, as those pioneered by SIDDHARTA, based on the used of fast Silicon Drift Detectors for precision X-ray spectroscopy, and of the ideal kaon beam offered by DAPHNE. The precision achieved by SIDDHARTA in measuring kaonic helium 3 and 4 and kaonic hydrogen is unique. In this talk, we'll present the results of the shift and width measurement, induced by the strong interaction, of the 1s level of kaonic hydrogen, and the shift measurement of the 2p level for kaonic helium 3 (first measurement ever) and 4. We'll, as well, discuss future plans to measure kaonic deuterium and other types of exotic atoms in the framework of SIDDHARTA-2.