Kaonic hydrogen X-ray measurement in SIDDHARTA

Understand

Kaonic hydrogen atoms provide a unique laboratory to probe the kaon-nucleon strong interaction at the energy threshold, allowing an investigation of the interplay between spontaneous and explicit chiral symmetry breaking in low-energy QCD.

• The SIDDHARTA Collaboration has measured the $K$-series X rays of kaonic hydrogen atoms at the DA$\Phi$NE electron-positron collider of Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, and has determined the most precise values of the strong-interaction induced shift and width of the $1s$ atomic energy level.
• This result provides vital constraints on the theoretical description of the low-energy $\bar{K}N$ interaction.