We report results of a new technique to measure the electric dipole moment of 129 Xe with 3 He comagnetometry. Both species are polarized using spin-exchange optical pumping, transferred to a measurement cell, and transported into a magnetically shielded room, where SQUID magnetometers detect free precession in applied electric and magnetic fields. The result from a one week measurement campaign in 2017 and a 2.5 week campaign in 2018, combined with detailed study of systematic effects, is dA( 129 Xe) = (1.4 ± 6.6stat ± 2.0syst) × 10 −28 e cm. This corresponds to an upper limit of |dA( 129 Xe)| < 1.4 × 10 −27 e cm (95% CL), a factor of five more sensitive than the limit set in 2001.Searches for permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs) are a powerful way to investigate beyondstandard-model (BSM) physics. An EDM is a charge asymmetry along the total angular momentum axis of a particle or system and is odd under both parity reversal (P) and time reversal (T). Assuming CPT conservation (C is charge conjugation), an EDM is a direct signal of CP violation (CPV), a condition required to generate the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe [1]. The Standard Model incorporates CPV through the phase in the CKM matrix and the QCD parameterθ. However, the Standard Model alone is insufficient to explain the size of the baryon asymmetry [2]. BSM scenarios that generate the observed baryon asymmetry [3] generally also provide for EDMs larger than the SM estimate, which for 129 Xe is |d A ( 129 Xe) SM | ≈ 5 × 10 −35 e cm [4].EDM measurements have provided constraints on how BSM CPV can enter low-energy physics [4]. Diamagnetic systems such as 129 Xe and 199 Hg are particularly sensitive to CPV nucleon-nucleon interactions that induce a nuclear Schiff moment and CPV semileptonic couplings [7]. While the most precise atomic EDM measurement is from 199 Hg [8], there are theoretical challenges to constraining hadronic CPV parameters from 199 Hg alone, and improved sensitivity to the 129 Xe EDM would tighten these constraints [7,9]. Additionally, recent work has shown that contributions from light-axion-induced CPV are significantly stronger for 129 Xe than for 199
A versatile and portable magnetically shielded room with a field of (700 ± 200) pT within a central volume of 1 m × 1 m × 1 m and a field gradient less than 300 pT/m, achieved without any external field stabilization or compensation, is described. This performance represents more than a hundredfold improvement of the state of the art for a two-layer magnetic shield and provides an environment suitable for a next generation of precision experiments in fundamental physics at low energies; in particular, searches for electric dipole moments of fundamental systems and tests of Lorentz-invariance based on spin-precession experiments. Studies of the residual fields and their sources enable improved design of future ultra-low gradient environments and experimental apparatus. This has implications for developments of magnetometry beyond the femto-Tesla scale in, for example, biomagnetism, geosciences, and security applications and in general low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements.
The neutron's permanent electric dipole moment d n is constrained to below 3×10 −26 e cm (90% C.L.) [1,2], by experiments using ultracold neutrons (UCN). We plan to improve this limit by an order of magnitude or more with PanEDM, the first experiment exploiting the ILL's new UCN source SuperSUN. SuperSUN is expected to provide a high density of UCN with energies below 80 neV, implying extended statistical reach with respect to existing sources, for experiments that rely on long storage or spin-precession times. Systematic errors in PanEDM are strongly suppressed by passive magnetic shielding, with magnetic field and gradient drifts at the single fT level. A holding-field homogeneity on the order of 10 −4 is achieved in low residual fields, via a high static damping factor and built-in coil system. No comagnetometer is needed for the first orderof-magnitude improvement in d n , thanks to high magnetic stability and an assortment of sensors outside the UCN storage volumes. PanEDM will be commissioned and upgraded in parallel with SuperSUN, to take full advantage of the source's output in each phase. Commissioning is ongoing in 2019, and a new limit in the mid 10 −27 e cm range should be possible with two full reactor cycles of data in the commissioned apparatus.
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