The goal of the FAMU experiment is to determine the proton Zemach radius with the measurement of the hyperfine splitting of the muonic hydrogen ground state.
The FAMU experiment is installed at the muon accelerator of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxford. Muonic hydrogen is produced colliding a beam of muons of about 55 MeV/c with a target of hydrogen and oxygen in a gaseous state. The hyperfine splitting is measured with an indirect method: a powerful laser with variable energy is injected in the target; the laser energy is varied to match the appropriate energy and induce the transition. The variation of the spectrum of the X-rays emitted by the target, as the laser energy changes, allows to determine the energy of the splitting.
The group in Trieste is active and central in FAMU: the principal investigator, the head of the analysis group and of the laser team are located here.
Presently the experiment is in its most exciting phase. After a few years of preparatory measures, the entire set up is finally ready. The data acquisition campaign to measure the hyperfine splitting of muonic hydrogen has started in 2023 and will continue throughout 2024 and beyond. Data analysis is now stimulating and exciting. This will be the first measurement of the Zemach radius with muonic hydrogen to achieve an accuracy of 1%.
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More info: https://web.infn.it/FAMU/
