Abstract
We propose an experiment to measure the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron using ultracold YbF molecules. The molecules are produced as a thermal beam by a cryogenic buffer gas source, and brought to rest in an optical molasses that cools them to the Doppler limit or below. The molecular cloud is then thrown upward to form a fountain in which the EDM of the electron is measured. A non-zero result would be unambiguous proof of new elementary particle interactions, beyond the standard model.
Highlights
The standard model of elementary particle physics predicts that the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron is exceedingly small [1], de 10−38e.cm, as illustrated in figure 1
This happens in the standard model through the Yukawa couplings in the quark sector [2], with the first non-vanishing result appearing at the four-loop level [3]
To go significantly beyond the current level of EDM sensitivity, one needs a fundamental improvement in the method, which is what we propose here
Summary
The standard model of elementary particle physics predicts that the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron is exceedingly small [1], de 10−38e.cm, as illustrated in figure 1. It will be possible to replace the molecular beam by a molecular fountain, where each molecule can precess coherently for almost one second, rather than the current one millisecond This will allow detection of an EDM as small as 1 × 10−30e.cm, corresponding to CP-violating physics at energies up to 100 TeV. Six beams propagating along the Cartesian directions ±x, ±y, ±zare detuned by approximately 5 MHz to the red of resonance in order to form an optical molasses [37] This cools the molecules to a temperature of order Γ/(2kB) = 140μ K, where Γ is the spontaneous decay rate of the A state. We describe each of these steps in more detail
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