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arXiv · 1711.01988

Measuring Nuclear Spin Dependent Parity Violation With Molecules: Experimental Methods and Analysis of Systematic Errors

Emine Altuntas·Jeffrey Ammon·Sidney B. Cahn·David DeMille
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Abstract

Nuclear spin-dependent parity violation (NSD-PV) effects in atoms and molecules arise from $Z^0$ boson exchange between electrons and the nucleus, and from the magnetic interaction between electrons and the parity-violating nuclear anapole moment. It has been proposed to study NSD-PV effects using an enhancement of the observable effect in diatomic molecules [D. DeMille $\textit{et al.}$, Phys. Rev. Lett. $\textbf{100}$, 023003 (2008)]. Here, we demonstrate measurements of this type with sensitivity surpassing that of any previous atomic PV measurement, using the test system ${^{138}\mathrm{Ba^{19}F}}$. We show that systematic errors associated with our technique can be suppressed to at least the level of the present statistical sensitivity. With $\sim\!170$ hours of data, we measure the matrix element, $W$, of the NSD-PV interaction with uncertainty $δW/(2π)<0.7$ Hz, for each of two configurations where $W$ must have different signs. This sensitivity would be sufficient to measure NSD-PV effects of the size anticipated across a wide range of nuclei.

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Emine Altuntas, Jeffrey Ammon, Sidney B. Cahn, David DeMille. 2018-01-17. Measuring Nuclear Spin Dependent Parity Violation With Molecules: Experimental Methods and Analysis of Systematic Errors. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.97.042101

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