Electron Electric Dipole Moment Research Articles

How viable is a QCD axion near 10 MeV?

There has been an attempt to revive the visible QCD axion at the 10 MeV scale assuming that it exclusively couples to the first-generation quarks and the electron. This variant of the QCD axion is claimed to remain phenomenologically viable, partly due to a clever model construction that induces tree-level pion-phobia and exploits uncertainties inherent in the chiral perturbation theory. We confront this model with the cosmological domain wall problem, the quality issue and constraints arising from the electron electric dipole moment. It is also pointed out that the gluon loop-generated axion-top coupling can provide a very large contribution to rare B-meson decays, such that the present LHCb data for B0 → K*0e+e− rule out the model for the axion mass larger than 30 MeV. There is a strong motivation for pushing the experimental analysis of B → K(*)e+e− to a lower e+e− invariant mass window, which will conclusively determine the fate of the model, as its contribution to this branching ratio significantly exceeds the Standard Model prediction.

Electric dipole moments as probes of the RD(*) anomaly

The measurements of the lepton flavor universality (LFU) in B(B¯→D(*)lν¯) indicate a significant deviation from the standard model prediction at a 3–4σ level, revealing a violation of the LFU (RD(*) anomaly). It is known that the RD(*) anomaly can be easily accommodated by an SU(2)L-singlet vector leptoquark (LQ) coupled primarily to third-generation fermions, whose existence is further motivated by a partial gauge unification. In general, such a LQ naturally leads to additional CP-violating phases in the LQ interactions. In this paper, we point out that the current RD(*) anomaly prefers the CP-violating interaction although B(B¯→D(*)lν¯) are CP-conserving observables. The CP-violating LQ predicts a substantial size of the bottom-quark electric dipole moment (EDM), the chromo-EDM, and also the tau-lepton EDM. Eventually at low energy, the nucleon and electron EDMs are radiatively induced. Therefore, we conclude that the RD(*) anomaly with the SU(2)L-singlet vector LQ provides unique predictions: neutron and proton EDMs with opposite signs and a magnitude of O(10−27) e cm, and suppressed electron EDM. Furthermore, we show that a similar EDM pattern is predicted in an SU(2)L-doublet scalar LQ scenario that can accommodate the RD(*) anomaly as well. These EDM signals could serve as crucial indicators in future experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Optical cycling and sensitivity to the electron's electric dipole moment in gold-containing molecules

Optical cycling and sensitivity to the electron's electric dipole moment in gold-containing molecules

Constraining CP Violating Nucleon-Nucleon Long-Range Interactions in Diatomic eEDM Searches.

The searches for CP violating effects in diatomic molecules, such as HfF^{+} and ThO, are typically interpreted as a probe of the electron's electric dipole moment (eEDM), a new electron-nucleon interaction, and a new electron-electron interaction. However, in the case of a nonvanishing nuclear spin, a new CP violating nucleon-nucleon long-range force will also affect the measurement, providing a new interpretation of the eEDM experimental results. Here, we use the HfF^{+} eEDM search and derive a new bound on this hypothetical interaction, which is the most stringent from terrestrial experiments in the 1eV-10keV mass range. These multiple new physics sources motivate independent searches in different molecular species for CP violation at low energy that result in model independent bounds, which are insensitive to cancellation among them.

Calculation of Some Low-Lying Electronic Excitations of Barium Monofluoride Using the Equation of Motion (EOM)-CC3 Method with an Effective Core Potential Approach.

Barium monofluoride (BaF) is a polar molecule of interest in measurements of the electron electric dipole moment. For this purpose, efforts are underway to investigate this molecule embedded within cryogenic matrices, e.g., in solid Ne. For a theoretical understanding of the electronic structure of such an embedded molecule, the need arises for efficient methods which are accurate but also able to handle a number of atoms which surround the molecule. The calculation for gas-phase BaF can be reduced to involve only outer electrons by representing the inner core of Ba with a pseudopotential, while carrying out a non-relativistic calculation with an appropriate basis set. Thus, the method is effectively at a scalar-relativistic level. In this work, we demonstrate to which extent this can be achieved using coupled-cluster methods to deal with electron correlation. As a test case, the SrF(X2Σ+→B2Σ+) transition is investigated, and excellent accuracy is obtained with the EOM-CC3 method. For the BaF(X2Σ+→A'2Δ, X2Σ+→A2Π, X2Σ+→B2Σ+) transitions, various coupled-cluster approaches are compared with very good agreement for EOM-CC3 with experimentally derived spectroscopic parameters, at the level of tens of cm-1. An exception is the excitation to the A'2Δ state, for which the energy is overestimated by 230cm-1. The poor convergence behavior for this particular state is demonstrated by providing results from calculations with basis sets of n = 3, 4, 5)-zeta quality. The calculated excitation energy for the B2Σ+ state agrees better with a deperturbation analysis than with the effective spectroscopic value, with a difference of 120cm-1.

Composite dark matter with forbidden annihilation

A dark matter model based on QCD-like SU(Nc) gauge theory with electroweakly interacting dark quarks is discussed. Assuming the dark quark mass m is smaller than the dynamical scale Λd ~ 4πfd, the main component of the dark matter is the lightest G-parity odd dark pion associated with chiral symmetry breaking in the dark sector. We show that nonzero dark quark mass induces the universal mass contribution to both G-parity odd and even pions, and their masses tend to be degenerate. As a result, dark pion annihilation into heavier G-parity even dark pion also affects the dark matter relic abundance. Thus, our setup naturally accommodates forbidden dark matter scenario and realizes heavy dark matter whose mass is O\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O} $$\\end{document}(1–100) TeV, which is different from conventional electroweakly interacting dark matter such as minimal dark matter. We also discuss CP-violation from the θ-term in the dark gauge sector and find that the predicted size of the electron electric dipole moment can be as large as ∼ 10−32e cm.

Electric dipole moments in 5+3 flavor weak effective theory

A fully generic treatment of electric dipole moments (EDMs) is presented in the CP-violating and flavor-conserving weak effective field theory (WET) with five flavors of quarks and three flavors of leptons. We systematically analyze leading contributions to EDMs originating from QCD and QED renormalization group running between the electroweak scale and low energy scales of about 2 GeV. We include the full one-loop anomalous dimension and a subset of two-loop corrections, as well as threshold corrections at the bottom, charm and τ masses. This allows us to derive master formulae in the space of generic WET for the neutron and proton EDMs, for EDMs of diamagnetic atoms, and for the precession frequencies constrained in molecular EDM experiments, from which bounds on the electron EDM are extracted. In particular, our master formulae capture the contributions of WET CP-violating operators with heavy quark and lepton flavors. As an application, we study EDM constraints on the Yukawa couplings of the Higgs boson, in both the linear and non-linear realizations of electroweak symmetry breaking.

Symmetric top molecule YbOCH[formula omitted] in the fundamental [formula omitted], [formula omitted]-violation searches

The symmetric top molecule YbOCH3 is studied for its potential to P, T-violation searches. The influence of the rotations and vibrations of the YbOCH3 on such violating effects as the electron electric dipole moment (eEDM) and the scalar–pseudoscalar electron-nucleon interaction (Ne-SPS) is studied using the coupled channels method. The corresponding sensitivity parameters Eeff and Es are computed.

Physical signatures of fermion-coupled axion dark matter

In the presence of axion dark matter, fermion spins experience an “axion wind” torque and an “axioelectric” force. We investigate new experimental probes of these effects and find that magnetized analogs of multilayer dielectric haloscopes can explore orders of magnitude of new parameter space for the axion-electron coupling. We also revisit the calculation of axion absorption into in-medium excitations, showing that axioelectric absorption is screened in spin-polarized targets, and axion wind absorption can be characterized in terms of a magnetic energy loss function. Finally, our detailed theoretical treatment allows us to critically examine recent claims in the literature. We find that axioelectric corrections to electronic energy levels are smaller than previously estimated and that the purported electron electric dipole moment due to a constant axion field is entirely spurious.

Maximising CP Violation in naturally aligned Two-Higgs Doublet Models

The Two-Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) is a well-motivated theoretical framework that provides additional sources of CP Violation (CPV) beyond the Standard Model (SM). After studying the vacuum topology of a general (convex) 2HDM potential, we unambiguously identify three origins of CPV: (i) Spontaneous CPV (SCPV), where the vacuum manifold has at least two degenerate CPV minima disconnected by domain walls, (ii) Explicit CPV (ECPV) with one single CPV ground state, and (iii) Mixed Spontaneous and Explicit CPV (MCPV), where the theory possesses more than one non-degenerate CPV local minimum. Most importantly, we define a novel complex parameter rCP whose norm and phase control the three different realisations of CPV, at least at the tree level. In all these scenarios, only two CPV phases can be made independent, as any third CPV parameter will always be constrained via the CP-odd tadpole condition. Since ECPV vanishes in 2HDMs where SM Higgs alignment is achieved naturally through accidental continuous symmetries, we analyse the possibility of maximising CPV through soft and explicit breaking of these symmetries. We derive upper limits on key CPV parameters that quantify the degree of SM misalignment from constraints due to the non-observation of an electron Electric Dipole Moment (EDM). Finally, we delineate the CP-violating parameter space of the so-constrained naturally aligned 2HDMs that can further be probed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

Impact of new experimental data on the C2HDM: the strong interdependence between LHC Higgs data and the electron EDM

The complex two-Higgs doublet model (C2HDM) is one of the simplest extensions of the Standard Model with a source of CP-violation in the scalar sector. It has a \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$${\\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$$\\end{document} symmetry, softly broken by a complex coefficient. There are four ways to implement this symmetry in the fermion sector, leading to models known as Type-I, Type-II, Lepton-Specific and Flipped. In the latter three models, there is a priori the surprising possibility that the 125 GeV Higgs boson couples mostly as a scalar to top quarks, while it couples mostly as a pseudoscalar to bottom quarks. This “maximal” scenario was still possible with the data available in 2017. Since then, there have been more data on the 125 GeV Higgs boson, direct searches for CP-violation in angular correlations of τ-leptons produced in Higgs boson decays, new results on the electron electric dipole moment, new constraints from LHC searches for additional Higgs bosons and new results on b → sγ transitions. Highlighting the crucial importance of the physics results of LHC’s Run 2, we combine all these experiments and show that the “maximal” scenario is now excluded in all models. Still, one can have a pseudoscalar component in \\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$h\ au \\overline{\ au }$$\\end{document} couplings in the Lepton-Specific case as large as 87% of the scalar component for all mass orderings of the neutral scalar bosons.

ALP-assisted strong first-order electroweak phase transition and baryogenesis

Axion-like particles (ALPs) can be naturally lighter than the electroweak scale. We consider an ALP that couples to the Standard Model Higgs to achieve the strong first-order electroweak phase transition. We discuss the two-field dynamics of the phase transition and the associated computation in detail and identify the viable parameter space. The ALP mass can be from the MeV to GeV scale. Baryon asymmetry can be explained by local baryogenesis without violating the current electron and atom electric dipole moment bound in most of the viable parameter space. The viable parameter space can be probed through Higgs exotic decay, rare kaon decay, the electron and atomic electric dipole moment, and the effective number of neutrinos in the cosmic microwave background in the future. The gravitational-wave signal is too weak to be detected.

On the oscillating electric dipole moment induced by axion-fermion couplings

It has been recently claimed that the axion coupling to fermions is responsible for an oscillating electric dipole moment (EDM) in the background of axion dark matter. In this work, we re-examine the derivation of this effect. Contrary to previous studies, we point out the physical relevance of an axion boundary term, which is crucial in restoring the axion shift symmetry and drastically affects the EDM phenomenology. To describe the latter, we introduce the notion of a time-averaged effective axion EDM, which encodes the boundary term and whose magnitude depends on the oscillation regime. For slow oscillations, the boundary term washes out the standard oscillating EDM, resulting in an exact cancellation in the static limit. Conversely, during fast oscillations, the boundary term amplifies the effective EDM relatively to the standard EDM contribution. This observable is especially interesting in the case of the electron EDM. For an O\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O} $$\\end{document}(1) axion-electron coupling, the overall size of the effective EDM in the regime of intermediate or fast oscillations is comparable to the present static EDM limit.

Electron EDM and LFV decays in the light of Muon (g-2)μ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$(g-2)_\\mu $$\\end{document} with U(2) flavor symmetry

We study the interplay of New Physics (NP) among the lepton magnetic moment, the lepton flavor violation (LFV) and the electron electric dipole moment (EDM) in light of recent data of the muon (g-2)μ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$(g-2)_\\mu $$\\end{document}. The NP is discussed in the leptonic dipole operator with the U(2) flavor symmetry of the charged leptons, where possible CP violating phases of the three family space are taken into account. It is remarked that the third-family contributes significantly to the LFV decay, μ→eγ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mu \\rightarrow e\\gamma $$\\end{document}, and the electron EDM. The experimental upper-bound on μ→eγ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\\mu \\rightarrow e\\gamma $$\\end{document} decay gives a severe constraint on the parameters of the flavor model. The predicted electron EDM is rather large due to the CP violating phases in the three family space. In addition, we also study (g-2)e,τ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$(g-2)_{e,\ au }$$\\end{document} of the electron and tauon, and EDMs of the muon and tauon as well as the τ→eγ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\ au \\rightarrow e \\gamma $$\\end{document} and τ→μγ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\ au \\rightarrow \\mu \\gamma $$\\end{document} decays. The τR→μLγ\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$\ au _R \\rightarrow \\mu _L \\gamma $$\\end{document} decay is predicted to be close to the experimental upper-bound.

Probing CP violation in dark sector through the electron electric dipole moment

The Two Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM) stands as a promising framework for exploring physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). Within this context, we explore the possibility that the two Higgs doublets may serve as a window into CP-violating dark sectors, neutral under the SM gauge groups. Specifically, our focus is on investigating the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron, generated solely by CP violation in the dark sector. We present a general formula for the electron EDM, without specifying the structure of the dark sectors, and discuss the current constraints on various dark sector models. It is noteworthy that even in the case of a CP-conserving 2HDM, the resulting electron EDM is capable of reaching the current experimental limit, with CP violation arising exclusively from the dark sectors. Furthermore, we introduce a heavy dark sector (HDS) approximation for the analytic calculation of the EDM, assuming that the dark sector particles are much heavier than the physical states in the 2HDM. This approximation yields simplified analytic results that are consistent with the full numerical calculations.

Discovery prospects for electron and neutron electric dipole moments in the general two Higgs doublet model

Baryon asymmetry of the Universe offers one of the strongest hints for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Remarkably, in the two Higgs doublet model (g2HDM) that possesses a second set of Yukawa matrices, one can have electroweak baryogenesis (EWBG) while the electron electric dipole moment (eEDM) is evaded by a flavor tuning that echoes the Standard Model (SM). We show that eEDM may first emerge around 10−30 e cm or so, followed by neutron EDM (nEDM) down to 10−27 e cm. We illustrate a cancellation mechanism for nEDM itself, which in turn can be probed when a facility capable of pushing down to 10−28 e cm becomes available. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

On the fermionic couplings of axionic dark matter

In the non-relativistic limit, two types of dark matter axion interactions with fermions are thought to dominate: one is induced by the spatial gradient of the axion field and called the axion wind, and the other by the time-derivative of the axion field, generating axioelectric effects. By generalizing Schiff theorem, it is demonstrated that this latter operator is actually strongly screened. For a neutral fermion, it can be entirely rotated away and is unobservable. For charged fermions, the only effect that can peek through the screening is an axion-induced electric dipole moment (EDM). These EDMs are not related to the axion coupling to gluons, represent a prediction of the Dirac theory analogous to the g=2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$g=2$$\\end{document} magnetic moments, are not further screened by the original Schiff theorem, and are ultimately responsible for inducing the usual axioelectric ionization. The two main phenomenological consequences are then that first the axion-induced nucleon EDM could be significantly larger than expected from the axion gluonic coupling, and second, that the electron EDM could also become available, and could actually be highly sensitive to relic axions.

Probing baryogenesis with radiative beauty decay and electron electric dipole moment

With the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) running, we should probe electroweak baryogenesis (EWBG) while probing CP violation (CPV) with electron electric dipole moment (eEDM). Rooted in the flavor structure of the Standard Model (SM), the general two Higgs doublet model (g2HDM) with a second set of Yukawa couplings can deliver EWBG while surviving eEDM. We point out a chiral-enhanced top-bottom interference effect that makes b→sγ decay an exquisite window on EWBG and eEDM, and illustrate the importance of the ΔACP observable at Belle II. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Systematic errors arising from polarization imperfections in measurements of the electron's electric dipole moment

Systematic errors arising from polarization imperfections in measurements of the electron's electric dipole moment

Baryogenesis in a parity solution to the strong CP problem

Space-time parity can solve the strong CP problem and introduces a spontaneously broken SU(2)R gauge symmetry. We investigate the possibility of baryogenesis from a first-order SU(2)R phase transition similar to electroweak baryogenesis. We consider a model with the minimal Higgs content, for which the strong CP problem is indeed solved without introducing extra symmetry beyond parity. Although the parity symmetry seems to forbid the SU(2)R anomaly of the B − L symmetry, the structure of the fermion masses can allow for the SU(2)R sphaleron process to produce non-zero B − L asymmetry of Standard Model particles so that the wash out by the SU(2)L sphaleron process is avoided. The setup predicts a new hyper-charged fermion whose mass is correlated with the SU(2)R symmetry breaking scale and hence with the SU(2)R gauge boson mass, and depending on the origin of CP violation, with an electron electric dipole moment. In a setup where CP violation and the first-order phase transition are assisted by a singlet scalar field, the singlet can be searched for at future colliders.