Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Research Tools and Instruments

ALPHA (Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus) is an international project at CERN, whose goal is to perform fundamental symmetry tests on trapped antihydrogen, the simplest atomic form of neutral antimatter. Since its approval by CERN in 2005, ALPHA has made very substantial progress. In November 2010, ALPHA announced first stable trapping of antihydrogen atoms. Very recently, ALPHA reported antihydrogen confinement for as long as 1000 seconds, extending the initial trapping times by nearly 4 orders of magnitude. ALPHA-Canada, already constituting one third of the Collaboration, plays leading roles in numerous aspects of the project. ALPHA-Canada is responsible for virtually all of the detector software and analysis, including those for the most recent results establishing antihydrogen trapping. ALPHA is currently designing a major upgrade. The new apparatus (""ALPHA2"") will allow access of laser light for precision spectroscopy, as well as provide magnetic fields that are much more homogenous. These are important requirements for fundamental symmetry tests, which Canadian group would like to pursue on trapped antihydrogen, using microwave and laser probes. This RTI grant will provide critical Canadian contributions to the construction of ALPHA2, in the areas which are closely tied to our group's unique expertise. These include: the cryostat for the superconducting magnetic trap, the core of ALPHA2; readout system for upgraded Si vertex detector; expansion of scintillator arrays; trap control electronics; and precision power supply for superconducting magnets. These contributions are essential for achieving ambitious goal of performing precision symmetry tests between matter and antimatter.