Alpha and helion particle charge radius difference determined from quantum-degenerate helium

Authors: Y. van der Werf, K. Steinebach, R. Jannin, H. L. Bethlem, K. S. E. Eikema

Published: 2025-05-23

DOI: 10.1126/science.adj2462

Source: Full article


Abstract

Accurate spectroscopic measurements of calculable systems provide a powerful method for testing the Standard Model and extracting fundamental constants. Recently, spectroscopic measurements of finite nuclear size effects in normal and muonic hydrogen resulted in unexpectedly large adjustments of the proton charge radius and the Rydberg constant. We measured the 2