Measuring the electron's electric dipole moment using ultracold molecules

Projektinformationen

UltracoldEDM

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 101018992

DOI

10.3030/101018992

Das Projekt endete am 22 April 2022

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 17 März 2021

Startdatum 14 Mai 2021

Enddatum 13 Mai 2023

Finanziert unter

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Gesamtkosten

€ 224 933,76

EU-Beitrag

€ 224 933,76

Koordiniert durch

IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - UltracoldEDM (Measuring the electron's electric dipole moment using ultracold molecules)

Berichtszeitraum: 2021-05-14 bis 2023-05-13

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

The observed imbalance between matter and anti-matter throughout the Universe could not be understood in the current framework of physics. This implies that there must be undiscovered physics that contains new particles and interactions. However, no new particles have been detected in the particle colliders. Another complementary way to test new physics is to measure the influence of the hypothetical particles on the properties of existing particles, for example, measuring the roundness of the electron. We aim at laser cooling and trapping heavy polar molecules and using the strong internal electric field of the molecules to precisely measure how round the electron is. This will shed light on the force that shaped the early Universe. In addition, the laser cooling techniques we develop will also advance the applications of ultracold molecules, including tests of fundamental physics, quantum simulation and quantum computation.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

In the period of this project, we have constructed and tested most parts of the instrument that will be used for the measurement the roundness of the electron. We have proposed and numerically simulated a scheme for the measurement. We have understood a problem of the molecule structure that limits laser cooling of the molecules.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

Our work on molecule structure will enable deep laser cooling of heavy molecules that are important for testing of fundamental physics. Our experimental setup will be used to measure the roundness of the electron 10 or 100 times better than the state of the art, which will probe new physics to an energy scale much higher than any conceivable particle colliders.

The proposed experimental setup