Parity Violation in Atoms and Implications for Unified Models of Weak and Electromagnetic Interactions

Abstract

The recent rapid and somewhat unexpected development in the field of parity violation in atoms is delightful for the particle physics community. The reason for joy is twofold: firstly because the experiments by themselves are so beautiful and ingenious, and secondly that they are going to play a very essential rôle in our understanding of laws of weak and electromagnetic interactions. In addition, the future of parity violation experiments in atoms looks quite rosy! In a few years (or perhaps even sooner) we might even have results on neutral currents from precision experiments in atoms [1]. After all, atomic experiments are used to quoting results with several decimal points. Just imagine that the best value of the Weinberg angle (or your own favourite mixing angle) most probably will be supplied by atoms which will, in addition, impose severe restrictions on freedom enjoyed so far by model builders.