Many-body calculations of parity nonconservation in cesium

Abstract

We review the atomic structure calculations necessary to interpret measurements of parity nonconservation (PNC) in cesium in terms of fundamental electron‐quark couplings. The P‐odd T‐even interactions in atoms are summarized, and the general forms of the associated effective Hamiltonians are derived. We give a detailed review of the calculations which employ many‐body perturbation theory (MBPT), which at present are among the most sophisticated; we discuss the likely theoretical uncertainty in this approach. An indication is given of the present level of agreement with the standard model, and we outline possibilities for future improvements in the atomic structure theory.