Violation of fundamental symmetries and variation of fundamental constants in atomic phenomena

Abstract

We present a review of recent works on variation of fundamental constants and violation of parity in atoms and nuclei.Theories unifying gravity with other interactions suggest temporal and spatial variation of the fundamental “constants” in expanding Universe. The spatial variation can explain fine tuning of the fundamental constants which allows humans (and any life) to appear. We appeared in the area of the Universe where the values of the fundamental constants are consistent with our existence.We describe recent works devoted to the variation of the fine structure constant α, strong interaction and fundamental masses (Higgs vacuum). There are some hints for the variation in quasar absorption spectra, Big Bang nucleosynthesis, and Oklo natural nuclear reactor data.A very promising method to search for the variation consists in comparison of different atomic clocks. Huge enhancement of the variation effects happens in transitions between very close atomic and molecular energy levels. A new idea is to build a “nuclear” clock based on UV transition in Thorium nucleus. This may allow to improve sensitivity to the variation up to 10 orders of magnitude!Measurements of violation of fundamental symmetries, parity (P) and time reversal (T), in atoms allows one to test unification theories in atomic experiments. We have developed an accurate method of many‐body calculations — all‐orders summation of dominating diagrams in residual e‐e interaction. To calculate QED radiative corrections to energy levels and electromagnetic amplitudes in many‐electron atoms and molecules we derived the “radiative potential” and the low‐energy theorem. This method is simple and can be easily incorporated into any many‐body theory approach. Using the radiative correction and many‐body calculations we obtained the PNC amplitude EPNC = −0.898(1 ± 0.5%) × 10−11ieaB(−QW/N). From the measurements of the PNC amplitude we extracted the Cs weak charge QW = −72.66(29)exp(36)theor. The difference with the standard model value QWSM = −73.19 is QW − QWSM = 0.53(48).