Dense Antihydrogen: Its Production and Storage to Envision Antimatter Propulsion

Abstract

We discuss the possibility that dense antihydrogen could provide a path towards a mechanism for a deep space propulsion system. We concentrate at first, as an example, on Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) antihydrogen. In a Bose-Einstein Condensate, matter (or antimatter) is in a coherent state analogous to photons in a laser beam, and individual atoms lose their independent identity. This allows many atoms to be stored in a small volume. In the context of recent advances in producing and controlling BECs, as well as in making antihydrogen, this could potentially provide a revolutionary path towards the efficient storage of large quantities of antimatter, perhaps eventually as a cluster or solid.

12 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (1)

• Amplification of light and atoms in a Bose--Einstein condensate

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Spectroscopy of free radicals and radical containing entrance-channel complexes in superfluid helium nano-droplets
• Controlled Antihydrogen Propulsion for NASA's Future in Very Deep Space
• Quenching of $para$-H${}_2$ with an ultra-cold anti-hydrogen atom ${\bar{H}}_{1s}$