Measurement of the kaonic hydrogen x-ray spectrum

Potentialities of CdZnTe Quasi-Hemispherical Detectors for Hard X-ray Spectroscopy of Kaonic Atoms at the DAΦNE Collider

Kaonic atom X-ray spectroscopy is a consolidated technique for investigations on the physics of strong kaon-nucleus/nucleon interaction. Several experiments have been conducted regarding the measurement of soft X-ray emission (<20 keV) from light kaonic atoms (hydrogen, deuterium, and helium). Currently, there have been new research activities within the framework of the SIDDHARTA-2 experiment and EXCALIBUR proposal focusing on performing precise and accurate measurements of hard X-rays (>20 keV) from intermediate kaonic atoms (carbon, aluminum, and sulfur). In this context, we investigated cadmium-zinc-telluride (CdZnTe or CZT) detectors, which have recently demonstrated high-resolution capabilities for hard X-ray and gamma-ray detection. A demonstrator prototype based on a new cadmium-zinc-telluride quasi-hemispherical detector and custom digital pulse processing electronics was developed. The detector covered a detection area of 1 cm2 with a single readout channel and interesting room-temperature performance with energy resolution of 4.4% (2.6 keV), 3% (3.7 keV), and 1.4% (9.3 keV) FWHM at 59.5, 122.1, and 662 keV, respectively. The results from X-ray measurements at the DAΦNE collider at the INFN National Laboratories of Frascati (Italy) are also presented with particular attention to the effects and rejection of electromagnetic and hadronic background.

Trigger rejection factor in the first kaonic helium run with the complete SIDDHARTA-2 setup

The SIDDHARTA-2 experiment aims to perform the first measurement of the kaonic deuterium 2p → 1s x-ray transition energy. Such measurement, together with the measurement of kaonic hydrogen 2p → 1s x-ray energy transition performed by the SIDDHARTA experiment in 2011, allows the determination of kaon proton and kaon neutron scattering lengths and represents a fundamental input for the low energies QCD in the strangeness sector theory. The SIDDHARTA-2 experiment is presently installed at the DAΦNE electronpositron collider at the National Laboratories of Frascati, in Italy. In May 2022, the kaonic 4He x-ray transitions measurement was performed by the complete SIDDHARTA-2 setup, by using a gaseous target. The result of this measurement is presented in this paper, with a specific focus on the background rejection performed by the kaon trigger system.

Kaonic Atoms to Investigate Global Symmetry Breaking

Kaonic atoms measure the antikaon-nucleus interaction at almost zero relative energy, allowing one to determine basic low-energy quantum chromodynamics (QCD) quantities, namely, the antikaon-nucleon ( K ¯ N) scattering lengths. The latter are important for extracting the sigma terms which are built on the symmetry breaking part of the Hamiltonian, thereby providing a measure of chiral and SU(3) symmetries breaking. After discussing the sigma terms and their relations to the kaonic atoms, we describe the most precise measurement in the literature of kaonic hydrogen, performed at LNF-INFN by the SIDDHARTA experiment. Kaonic deuterium is still to be measured, and two experiments are planned. The first, SIDDHARTA-2 at LNF-INFN was installed on DA Φ NE in spring 2019 and will collect data in 2020. The second, E57 at J-PARC, will become operative in 2021.

X-ray Detectors for Kaonic Atoms Research at DAΦNE

This article presents the kaonic atom studies performed at the INFN National Laboratory of Frascati (Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell’INFN, LNF-INFN) since the opening of this field of research at the DA Φ NE collider in early 2000. Significant achievements have been obtained by the DA Φ NE Exotic Atom Research (DEAR) and Silicon Drift Detector for Hadronic Atom Research by Timing Applications (SIDDHARTA) experiments on kaonic hydrogen, which have required the development of novel X-ray detectors. The 2019 installation of the new SIDDHARTA-2 experiment to measure kaonic deuterium for the first time has been made possible by further technological advances in X-ray detection.

The kaonic atoms research program at DAΦNE: from SIDDHARTA to SIDDHARTA-2

The interaction of antikaons with nucleons and nuclei in the low-energy regime represents an active research field in hadron physics with still many important open questions. The investigation of light kaonic atoms, in which one electron is replaced by a negatively charged kaon, is a unique tool to provide precise information on this interaction; the energy shift and the broadening of the low-lying states of such atoms, induced by the kaon-nucleus hadronic interaction, can be determined with high precision from the atomic X-ray spectroscopy, and this experimental method provides unique information to understand the low energy kaon-nucleus interaction at the production threshold. The lightest atomic systems, like the kaonic hydrogen and the kaonic deuterium deliver, in a model-independent way, the isospin-dependent kaon-nucleon scattering lengths. The most precise kaonic hydrogen measurement to-date, together with an exploratory measurement of kaonic deuterium, were carried out in 2009 by the SIDDHARTA collaboration at the DAΦNE electron-positron collider of LNF-INFN, combining the excellent quality kaon beam delivered by the collider with new experimental techniques, as fast and very precise X-ray detectors, like the Silicon Drift Detectors. The SIDDHARTA results triggered new theoretical work, which achieved major progress in the understanding of the low-energy strong interaction with strangeness reflected by the antikaon-nucleon scattering lengths calculated with the antikaon-proton amplitudes constrained by the SIDDHARTA data. The most important open question is the experimental determination of the hadronic energy shift and width of kaonic deuterium; presently, a major upgrade of the setup, SIDDHARTA-2, is being realized to reach this goal. In this paper, the results obtained in 2009 and the proposed SIDDHARTA-2 upgrades are presented.

Isotopes and analogs of hydrogen--from fundamental investigations to practical applications

Hydrogen has a central role in the story of the universe itself and also in the story of our efforts to understand it. This paper retells the story of the part played by hydrogen and its stable isotope deuterium in the primordial synthesis of the elements, then goes on to describe how the spectrum of atomic hydrogen led to insights into the laws governing matter at the most fundamental level, from the quantum mechanics of Schrödinger and Heisenberg, through quantum electrodynamics, to the most recent work investigating the underlying structure of the proton itself. Atomic hydrogen is unique among the elements in that the concept of isotopy--atoms having the same nuclear charge but different masses--is stretched to its limit in the isotopes of hydrogen, ranging from the well-known isotopes deuterium and tritium to exotic species such as muonium, muonic helium, and positronium. These atoms, or atom-like objects, have much to tell us about fundamental aspects of the universe. In recent years the idea of utilizing hydrogen either as an energy source (through nuclear fusion) or as an energy storage medium (bound in hydrides or other materials) has attracted much attention as a possible avenue to a post-oil energy future. Some of the more interesting recent developments are described here. Dedicated to the memory of Brian C. Webster (1939-2008).

Faddeev calculation of a K- pp quasibound state

We report on the first genuinely three-body K[over]NN- piSigmaN coupled-channel Faddeev calculation in search for quasibound states in the K- pp system. The main absorptivity in the K- p subsystem is accounted for by fitting to K- p data near threshold. Our calculation yields one such quasibound state, with I=1/2, J{pi}=0-, bound in the range B approximately 55-70 MeV, with a width of Gamma approximately 90-110 MeV. These results differ substantially from previous estimates, and are at odds with the K- pp-->Lambda p signal observed by the FINUDA collaboration.

Surprises in threshold antikaon-nucleon physics

Low energy KN interactions are studied within unitary chiral perturbation theory at next-to-leading order with ten coupled channels. We pay special attention to the recent precise determination of the strong shift and width of the kaonic hydrogen 1s state by the DEAR Collaboration that has challenged our theoretical understanding of this sector of strong interactions. We typically find two classes of solutions, both of them reproducing previous data, that either can or cannot accommodate the DEAR measurements. The former class has not been previously discussed.