Researchers have successfully conducted an experiment to verify strong-field quantum electrodynamics with exotic atoms, using a state-of-the-art X-ray detector for high-precision measurements of muonic characteristic X-rays. This breakthrough paves the way for verifying fundamental physical laws under strong electric fields and advancing various research fields.

An international collaboration of researchers, including the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU), has succeeded in a proof-of-principle experiment to verify strong-field quantum electrodynamics[4] with exotic atoms[5], by performing high-precision measurements of the energy spectrum of muonic characteristic X-rays[1] emitted from muonic atoms[2] using a state-of-the-art X-ray detector, reports a new study in Physical Review Letters.

The group’s results are a significant step toward verifying fundamental physical laws under strong electric fields, which humankind has not yet been able to create artificially. The highly efficient and accurate X-ray energy determination method using state-of-the-art quantum technology demonstrated in this research is expected to be applied to various research fields, such as non-destructive elemental analysis methods using muonic atoms[6]

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