ATHENA
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- Alternative use: Athena
ATHENA is an antimatter research project that is taking place at the AD Ring at CERN. In 2002, it was the first experiment to produce 50,000 low-energy antihydrogen atoms, as reported in the journal Nature<ref>http://press.web.cern.ch/press/PressReleases/Releases2002/PR09.02Eantihydrogen.html Antihydrogen production press release by CERN</ref>.
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[edit] The experiment
For antihydrogen to be created, antiprotons and positrons must first be prepared. Once the antihydrogen is created, a high-resolution detector is needed to confirm that the antihydrogen was created, as well as to look at the spectrum of the antihydrogen in order to compare it to "normal" hydrogen<ref>http://athena-positrons.web.cern.ch/ATHENA-positrons/wwwathena/overview.html Summary of how the ATHENA experiment works</ref>.
The antiprotons are obtained from CERN's Antiproton Decelerator while the positrons are obtained from a positron accumulator. The antiparticles are then led into a recombination trap to create antihydrogen. The trap is surrounded by the ATHENA detector, which detects the annihilation of the antiprotons as well as the positrons.
[edit] Collaboration
The ATHENA Collaboration is comprised of the following institutions<ref>http://athena-positrons.web.cern.ch/ATHENA-positrons/wwwathena/collaboration.html ATHENA Collaboration</ref>:
- University of Aarhus, Denmark
- University of Brescia, Italy
- CERN
- University of Genoa, Italy
- University of Pavia, Italy
- RIKEN, Japan
- Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- University of Wales Swansea, United Kingdom
- University of Tokyo, Japan
- University of Zurich, Switzerland
- National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Italy
[edit] References
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