Transition Edge Sensors for Antiprotonic Atom Spectroscopy

Objective

The spectroscopy of antiprotonic atoms with the use of next-generation quantum sensing x-ray microcalorimeters has the potential to benchmark Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) effects in strongest electric fields attainable in the lab. With attainable precisions of dE/E = 10E-5 it is possible to test 2-loop QED vacuum polarization effects well beyond the Schwinger limit, place strict limits on neutron skin thicknesses and, potentially, place constraints on certain classes of beyond Standard Model physics. Transition Edge Sensors for Antiprotonic Atom Spectroscopy (TESAAS) is a project concerned with adapting x ray detectors called superconducting transition edge sensors (TESs) to the challenges of antiprotonic atom x-ray spectroscopy through the development of new TES designs and a complete experimental end-station that addresses the dominating sources of uncertainty in these measurements, namely electron refilling effects and radiation backgrounds from annihilation products. TESAAS entails three major efforts which build on my work with TESs for antiprotonic atom x-ray spectroscopy: 1) The development of a novel TES pixel design optimized for the noise and radiation environments of antimatter facilities 2) Simulation assisted design of a gas-target system with which to control the impact of electron refilling effects and 3) The construction of an auxiliary detector array capable of monitoring the intensity of charged particle backgrounds produced in the antiprotonic atom decay process. These will come together to form a complete experimental end-station capable of unlocking the use of Transition Edge Sensors for use in antimatter studies. The availability of this powerful new method opens the door to a new generation of high precision measurements with transverse applications in atomic, nuclear, and particle physics.