Production of the smallest QED atom: true microonium (micro+micro-)

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 May 29;102(21):213401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.213401. Epub 2009 May 26.

Abstract

The "true microonium" (micro+micro-) and "true tauonium" (tau+tau-) bound states are not only the heaviest, but also the most compact pure QED systems. The rapid weak decay of the tau makes the observation of true tauonium difficult. However, as we show, the production and study of true microonium is possible at modern electron-positron colliders.