X-ray spectroscopy of light kaonic atoms - new results and perspectives

The antikaon interaction on nucleons and nuclei in the low-energy regime is neither simple nor well understood. Rather direct access to this field is provided by x-ray spectroscopy of light kaonic atoms like kaonic hydrogen, deuterium and helium isotopes. A series of precision measurements on kaonic atoms was performed very successfully by the SIDDHARTA Collaboration at the DAΦNE electron-positron collider at LNF-INFN (Frascati, Italy). Consequently, new precision data on the strong interaction observables (i.e. energy shift and broadening of low-lying atomic states) were delivered having an important impact on the theory of low-energy QCD with strangeness. Presently, the follow-up experiment, SIDDHARTA-2, is in preparation, aiming at a determination of the strong interaction observables in kaonic deuterium as the highest priority; other type of measurements (light and heavier kaonic atoms) are as well foreseen. With the kaonic deuterium data the antikaon-nucleon isospin-resolved scattering lengths can be extracted for the first time. An overview of the progress and present status of experimental studies and an outlook to future perspectives in this fascinating research field is given.