Paper detail

Experimental constraints on anti-gravity and antimatter, in the context of dark energy

In a paper by Villata (2011), the possibility of a repulsive gravitational interaction between antimatter and ordinary matter was discussed. The author argued that this anti-gravity can be regarded as a prediction of general relativity, under the assumption of CPT symmetry. Stringent experimental constraints have been established against such a suggestion. The measurement of free-fall accelerations of various nuclei by the Eot-Wash group and searches for equivalence principle violation through the gravitational splitting in kaon physics consistently establish null results on any difference between the gravitational behaviour of antimatter and ordinary matter. The original arguments against antigravity were questioned by Nieto & Goldman (1991). In the light of new experiments as well as theoretical developments in the past 20 years, some of Nieto & Goldman's concerns have been addressed. While a precise measurement of the free-fall acceleration of antihydrogen will eventually lay this issue to rest, the purpose of this short letter is to argue that the substitution of dark energy with anti-gravity by antimatter, as suggested by Villata, is highly unlikely.