32 - Possibilities for BEC of Positronium

Summary

Abstract

We review the proposal for Bose–Einstein condensation of positronium atoms. All of the ingredients necessary to achieve BEC of Ps atoms are currently available.

Introduction

In this volume several authors have discussed and described a variety of weakly interacting systems which might display BEC. In this short contribution we suggest that a dense gas of positronium (Ps) atoms in vacuum is a rather ideal but somewhat more exotic system that might be a very good candidate for observing a weakly interacting BEC.

Recent investigations of the interactions of positrons (e⁺) and (Ps) with solids have led to extraordinary improvements in the kinds of low energy experiments we can do with the positron [1, 2]. All of the ingredients necessary to achieve BEC of Ps atoms are currently available. We envision a scenario where roughly N ≅ 10⁵ Ps atoms are trapped in a volume v ≃ 10⁻¹³ cm³ and allowed to cool through the Bose transition temperature of 20 – 30K in a time of the order of nanoseconds. In the following we discuss the relevant interactions and describe how Ps BEC can be achieved.

Single Positronium Physics

Ps is comprised of an e⁺ − e⁻ bound in a hydrogenic orbit. Its mass, 2m_e, is extremely light compared to H, an important ingredient for achieving reasonable Bose condensation temperatures. Its binding energy (6.8 eV) is half that of H.