Measurements of Discrete Symmetries in the Neutral Kaon System with the CPLEAR (PS195) Experiment

Abstract

The antiproton storage ring LEAR offered unique opportunities to study the symmetries which exist between matter and antimatter. At variance with other approaches at this facility, CPLEAR was an experiment devoted to the study of T , CPT and CP symmetries in the neutral kaon system. It measured with high precision the time evolution of initially strangeness-tagged K 0 and K 0 states to determine the size of violations with respect to these symmetries in the context of a systematic study. In parallel, limits concerning quantum-mechanical predictions (EPR paradox, coherence of the wave function) or the equivalence principle of general relativity have been obtained. This article will first discuss briefly the unique low energy antiproton storage ring LEAR followed by a description of the CPLEAR experiment, including the basic formalism necessary to understand the time evolution of a neutral kaon state and the main results related to measurements of discrete symmetries in the neutral kaon system. An excellent and exhaustive review of the CPLEAR experiment and all its measurements is given in Ref. 1.