Study of Interaction Between Antiprotons

With undergoing researches on antimatter physics, it is crucial to understand what the interaction between antiprotons is. Is it the same as the interaction between protons? This measurement will definitely help us to understand the formation mechanism of antimatter nuclei as well as the symmetry of matter and antimatter. In this context, our STAR collaboration measured the correlation function of antiproton-antiproton pairs from 200 GeV/c Au+Au collisions. After substracting the residual correlation due to the secondary antiprotons that decayed from other particles, the primary antiproton-antiproton correlation function is extracted. By applying the quantum theory of multi-particle correlation, two key parameters that characterize the corresponding strong interaction:namely, the scattering length (f₀) and effective range (d₀) were obtained. Within error bars, it is found that the f₀ and d₀ for the antiproton-antiproton interaction are consistent with their antiparticle counterparts -the ones for the proton-proton interaction. Like the force that holds ordinary protons together within the nuclei of atoms, the force between antiprotons is attractive and strong, which overcomes the tendency of the like (negatively) charged particles to repel one another, and allows the antiprotons to bind to form antinucleus. The current measurement is for the first time to measure the interaction between antimatter, it offers a foundation to understanding the structure of more-complex antinuclei and their properties. Also our measurement offers a new way to test the CPT symmetry, which has an important impact for human beings to understand the law of motion in our world.