Freiburg 2024 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 62: Precision Measurements II (joint session Q/A)
Q 62.1: Talk
Friday, March 15, 2024, 11:00–11:15, HS 1221
Parity violation in atomic ytterbium: a progress report — •Stefanos Nanos, Iraklis Papigkiotis, Timoleon Avgeris, and Dionysios Antypas — Department of Physics, University of Crete, GR-70013 Heraklion, Greece
Small-scale tabletop experiments are emerging as a complement to their large-scale high-energy-physics counterparts conducted in large facilities, for studies on fundamental physics. Specifically, atomic parity violation (APV) serves as a gateway to understanding the effects of weak interaction in atoms. Recent observations on how the APV effect varies among a chain of ytterbium (Yb) isotopes motivate the implementation of this method as a versatile probe of nuclear and particle physics.
In this spirit, our team has initiated construction of an atomic beam apparatus, focusing on detecting isotopic variation of APV in Yb. The new setup is currently under development at the Physics Department of the University of Crete in Greece, with the purpose of measuring the Yb 6s2 1S0 → 5d6s 3D1 optical transition at 408 nm. The project aims to significantly expand existing approaches, through high-precision APV measurements, with a focus on probing the neutron distributions in the Yb nuclei. These investigations seek to address questions related to the size of neutron-rich nuclei and neutron stars. Moreover, the method will serve as a probe of physics beyond the Standard Model, involving studies of electron-nucleon interactions which would be mediated by additional Z bosons.
Keywords: atomic parity violation; precision measurements; neutron distribution; electron-nucleon interactions