| 1. |
- Amole, C., et al.
(författare)
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An experimental limit on the charge of antihydrogen
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 5, s. 3955-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The properties of antihydrogen are expected to be identical to those of hydrogen, and any differences would constitute a profound challenge to the fundamental theories of physics. The most commonly discussed antiatom- based tests of these theories are searches for antihydrogen- hydrogen spectral differences (tests of CPT (charge- parity- time) invariance) or gravitational differences (tests of the weak equivalence principle). Here we, the ALPHA Collaboration, report a different and somewhat unusual test of CPT and of quantum anomaly cancellation. A retrospective analysis of the influence of electric fields on antihydrogen atoms released from the ALPHA trap finds a mean axial deflection of 4.1 +/- 3.4mm for an average axial electric field of 0.51Vmm1. Combined with extensive numerical modelling, this measurement leads to a bound on the charge Qe of antihydrogen of Q (+/- 1.3 +/- 1.1 +/- 0.4)10 8. Here, e is the unit charge, and the errors are from statistics and systematic effects.
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| 2. |
- Charman, D. J., et al.
(författare)
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Climate-related changes in peatland carbon accumulation during the last millennium
- 2013
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Ingår i: Biogeosciences. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1726-4189. ; 10:2, s. 929-944
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Peatlands are a major terrestrial carbon store and a persistent natural carbon sink during the Holocene, but there is considerable uncertainty over the fate of peatland carbon in a changing climate. It is generally assumed that higher temperatures will increase peat decay, causing a positive feedback to climate warming and contributing to the global positive carbon cycle feedback. Here we use a new extensive database of peat profiles across northern high latitudes to examine spatial and temporal patterns of carbon accumulation over the past millennium. Opposite to expectations, our results indicate a small negative carbon cycle feedback from past changes in the long-term accumulation rates of northern peatlands. Total carbon accumulated over the last 1000 yr is linearly related to contemporary growing season length and photosynthetically active radiation, suggesting that variability in net primary productivity is more important than decomposition in determining long-term carbon accumulation. Furthermore, northern peatland carbon sequestration rate declined over the climate transition from the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) to the Little Ice Age (LIA), probably because of lower LIA temperatures combined with increased cloudiness suppressing net primary productivity. Other factors including changing moisture status, peatland distribution, fire, nitrogen deposition, permafrost thaw and methane emissions will also influence future peatland carbon cycle feedbacks, but our data suggest that the carbon sequestration rate could increase over many areas of northern peatlands in a warmer future.
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| 3. |
- Charman, A. E., et al.
(författare)
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Description and first application of a new technique to measure the gravitational mass of antihydrogen
- 2013
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 4
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Physicists have long wondered whether the gravitational interactions between matter and antimatter might be different from those between matter and itself. Although there are many indirect indications that no such differences exist and that the weak equivalence principle holds, there have been no direct, free-fall style, experimental tests of gravity on antimatter. Here we describe a novel direct test methodology; we search for a propensity for anti-hydrogen atoms to fall downward when released from the ALPHA antihydrogen trap. In the absence of systematic errors, we can reject ratios of the gravitational to inertial mass of antihydrogen 475 at a statistical significance level of 5%; worst-case systematic errors increase the minimum rejection ratio to 110. A similar search places somewhat tighter bounds on a negative gravitational mass, that is, on antigravity. This methodology, coupled with ongoing experimental improvements, should allow us to bound the ratio within the more interesting near equivalence regime.
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