Abstract
Electrons bound in highly charged heavy ions such as hydrogen-like bismuth 209Bi82+ experience electromagnetic fields that are a million times stronger than in light atoms. Measuring the wavelength of light emitted and absorbed by these ions is therefore a sensitive testing ground for quantum electrodynamical (QED) effects and especially the electron–nucleus interaction under such extreme conditions. However, insufficient knowledge of the nuclear structure has prevented a rigorous test of strong-field QED. Here we present a measurement of the so-called specific difference between the hyperfine splittings in hydrogen-like and lithium-like bismuth 209Bi82+,80+ with a precision that is improved by more than an order of magnitude. Even though this quantity is believed to be largely insensitive to nuclear structure and therefore the most decisive test of QED in the strong magnetic field regime, we find a 7-σ discrepancy compared with the theoretical prediction.
Highlights
Electrons bound in highly charged heavy ions such as hydrogen-like bismuth 209Bi82 þ experience electromagnetic fields that are a million times stronger than in light atoms
The spin of the single electron in the ground state is oriented either parallel or anti-parallel to the nuclear spin. This leads to a splitting of the electronic ground state into two levels, the hyperfine structure splitting (HFS)
To test quantum electrodynamical (QED)-based theoretical calculations in these heavy systems, the hyperfine splittings in H-like Ho, Re and Tl have been measured in electron beam ion traps[7,8,9], whereas Pb and Bi were studied at the experimental storage ring (ESR) at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt[6,10]
Summary
Electrons bound in highly charged heavy ions such as hydrogen-like bismuth 209Bi82 þ experience electromagnetic fields that are a million times stronger than in light atoms. To test QED-based theoretical calculations in these heavy systems, the hyperfine splittings in H-like Ho, Re and Tl have been measured in electron beam ion traps[7,8,9], whereas Pb and Bi were studied at the experimental storage ring (ESR) at the GSI Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt[6,10] Even though these measurements were sufficiently accurate, they could not be exploited as meaningful QED tests, due to a large uncertainty in the calculation of the distribution of magnetization in the nucleus, called the Bohr–Weisskopf (BW) effect[11]. The first laser spectroscopic observation of the hyperfine structure in a Li-like heavy system was recently reported[13] but did not provide sufficient accuracy to become sensitive to QED contributions in D0E
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