RUI: Refined Tests of Fundamental Symmetries

Amherst College, Amherst MA

Investigators

Abstract

This RUI project focuses on precision measurements of fundamental symmetries. Three different measurements are to be undertaken: 1) the current Amherst edm measurement in Cs will be continued, with technical innovations to the experiment that should result in a value that is improved by a factor of 20 over the current Cs limit; 2) measurements of the hyperfine splittings, isotope shifts, and g-factors for the a(1) state of PbO will be undertaken to provide essential support for the new edm measurement that is being initiated at Yale University; and 3) the search for a violation of local Lorentz invariance (LLI) and CPT, for which the existing Amherst value provides the best laboratory limits, will be renewed. This renewed undertaking is prompted by recent theoretical results that provide a coherent theory that allows for both LLI and CPT nonconservation.