Estimate of contribution from p–d mixing in atomic PNC

Abstract

We investigate possible contributions to future atomic parity nonconservation (PNC) experiments from parity admixtures between single-electron atomic states with total angular momentum j=3/2. We develop new formalism for studying these admixtures between atomic p and d states, which enter only when finite nuclear size effects are considered and have been neglected in the literature to date. We use analytic approximations to provide an order-of-magnitude estimate of the contribution from these admixtures, and identify a dimensionless ratio which sets the scale of the correction. Using realistic numerical wavefunctions in Ba+ we confirm the results of our analytic expressions, and conclude quantitatively that these novel admixtures are likely to be negligible in essentially all cases.