Antiproton annihilation in very low-energy antihydrogen scattering by simple atoms and molecules

The aim of experimentalists currently working on the preparation of antihydrogen is to trap it at very low temperatures so that its properties can be studied. Of concern to experimentalists are processes that lead to a loss of antihydrogen through annihilation. The dominant annihilation process that leads to the loss of antihydrogen is the annihilation of the antiproton with nuclei through the strong interaction. A recent scattering calculation of antihydrogen with hydrogen at very low energy, using the complex strong interaction potential of Kohno and Weise has found an average annihilation cross-section of 0.13E(-1/2)a(0)(-2), where E is the energy of relative motion. The antihydrogen-helium system is of particular interest to experimentalists as helium may be present as an impurity in the trap. Also there is interest in the possibility of using it to cool antihydrogen. We present a treatment of antihydrogen scattering with helium at very low temperatures. The annihilation cross-sections obtained are much larger than antihydrogen-hydrogen scattering cross-section, making it very unlikely that helium can be used to cool antihydrogen. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.