Eur. Phys. J. A (2007) 31: 537-539
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2006-10197-2

QNP 2006

Precision measurements of kaonic atoms at DA ΦNE and future perspectives

¹ Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, INFN, Via E. Fermi 40, C.P. 13, I-00044, Frascati (Roma), Italy
² Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3055, V8W3P6, Victoria B.C., Canada
³ Politecnico di Milano, Sezione di Elettronica, Via Golgi 40, I-20133, Milano, Italy
⁴ IFIN-HH, P.O. Box MG-6, R-76900, Magurele, Bucharest, Romania
⁵ Stefan Meyer Institut für subatomare Physik, Boltzmanngasse 3, A-1090, Vienna, Austria
⁶ INFN Sezione di Roma I and Istituto Superiore di Sanità, I-00161, Roma, Italy
⁷ Physik Department, Technische Universität München, James-Franck-Strasse, D-85748, Garching, Germany
⁸ PNSensors GmbH, Rönnerstr. 28, D-80803, München, Germany
⁹ MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics, Giessenbachstr., D-85740, Garching, Germany

Received: 8 October 2006
Accepted: 15 October 2006
Published online: 22 February 2007

Abstract

The DAΦNE electron-positron collider at the Frascati National Laboratories has made available a unique “beam" of negative kaons providing unprecedented conditions for the study of the low-energy kaon-nucleon interaction, a field still largely unexplored. The DEAR (DAΦNE Exotic Atom Research) experiment at DAΦNE and its successor SIDDHARTA (SIlicon Drift Detector for Hadronic Atom Research by Timing Application) aim at a precision measurement of the strong-interaction shift and width of the fundamental 1s level, via the measurement of the X-ray transitions to this level, for kaonic hydrogen and kaonic deuterium. The aim is to extract the isospin-dependent antikaon-nucleon scattering lengths and to contribute to the understanding of aspects of chiral symmetry breaking in the strangeness sector.