What question did this study set out to answer?

October 5, 2017

The Rydberg constant and proton size from atomic hydrogen

Key Points

This study aims to measure the proton size using accurate spectroscopic measurements of regular hydrogen and to resolve discrepancies with previous measurements.
Conducted accurate spectroscopic measurements of regular hydrogen.
Compared the results with sizes obtained from muonic hydrogen experiments.
Analyzed potential systematic errors in existing measurements.
Measured proton size was inconsistent with average values from previous hydrogen measurements.
New value was consistent with sizes from muonic hydrogen experiments.
Study highlights the need for further examination of systematic errors in all experiments.

Abstract

How big is the proton? The discrepancy between the size of the proton extracted from the spectroscopy of muonic hydrogen and the value obtained by averaging previous results for “regular” hydrogen has puzzled physicists for the past 7 years. Now, Beyer et al. shed light on this puzzle (see the Perspective by Vassen). The authors obtained the size of the proton using very accurate spectroscopic measurements of regular hydrogen. Unexpectedly, this value was inconsistent with the average value of previous measurements of the same type. Also unexpectedly, it was consistent with the size extracted from the muonic hydrogen experiments. Resolving the puzzle must now include trying to understand how the old results relate to the new, as well as reexamining the sources of systematic errors in all experiments. Science , this issue p. 79 ; see also p. 39

Ask AI

Mark Helpful

Bookmark

Relay