Magnetometry for measuring the electric dipole moment of the electron

用于测量电子电偶极矩的磁力计

基本信息

批准号：
ST/W005476/1
负责人：
Ben Sauer
金额：
$ 5.91万
依托单位：
Imperial College London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2021
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2021 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FW005476%2F1
关键词：
Magnetometry measuring electric dipole moment

项目摘要

This project investigates one of the fundamental mysteries of the universe, namely why cosmological observations show a universe dominated by regular matter, when our current understand of the laws of physics indicates both matter and anti-matter should have been made in nearly equal amounts in the Big Bang. This mystery, and others like it, indicate that there must be new physics -- new forces and particles -- waiting to be discovered. We search for evidence of this new physics by measuring the roundness of the electron, the so-called electron electric dipole moment, as precisely as possible. At the level of our measurements, the known laws of physics predict that the electron will be perfectly round. A large swath of new theories, which have been proposed but never yet verified experimentally, predict a much less round electron, tantalizingly within the grasp of our experiments. These same new theories also help answer mysteries like the observed matter/anti-matter imbalance. Thus, measuring the electric dipole moment of the electron has the potential to not only reveal evidence for new physics, but also to distinguish between which new theories might be correct, guiding theoretical physics to a new and deeper understanding of the universe. We have built a new experiment to measure the electron roundness. This experiment is exceptionally sensitive to magnetic fields which, if not controlled, can ruin the experimental sensitivity. We are requesting funds for magnetometers that will allow us to characterize and control magnetic fields in the experiment, which is one of the most challenging and crucial aspects of measuring the electron at the required precision. These magnetometers will also provide us with critical data needed for designing the next generation experiment that could potentially be 10-100 times more precise.

该项目调查了宇宙的基本奥秘之一，即宇宙学观察结果表明，当我们目前对物理定律的理解表明物质和反物质都应该在大爆炸中以几乎相等的数量进行，而当前对物理定律的理解表明，宇宙学观察出来。这个谜团以及其他类似的谜团表明，必须有新的物理学（新力量和颗粒）等待发现。我们通过测量电子的圆度，即所谓的电子偶极矩，以尽可能精确地搜索这种新物理学的证据。在我们的测量层面上，已知的物理定律预测电子将是完美的。已经提出但从未在实验中验证的一大批新理论预测了一个较少的圆形电子，在我们的实验掌握范围内诱人。这些相同的新理论也有助于回答诸如观察到的问题/反物质失衡之类的谜团。因此，测量电子的电偶极矩不仅有可能揭示新物理学的证据，而且还可以区分哪种新理论可能是正确的，从而将理论物理学指导到对宇宙的新和更深入的理解。我们已经建立了一个新的实验来测量电子圆度。该实验对磁场非常敏感，如果不控制，可能会破坏实验灵敏度。我们要求为磁力计提供资金，以使我们能够表征和控制实验中的磁场，这是以所需的精度测量电子的最具挑战性和关键方面之一。这些磁力计还将为我们提供设计下一代实验所需的关键数据，该实验可能会更精确地提高10-100倍。