Parity and Time Reversal Tests in Atoms

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The main thrust of this project is to continue recent advances in atomic experiments designed to find and measure violations of parity and time-reversal symmetries. A major effort is the search for a permanent atomic electric dipole moment (EDM), which can exist only if time-reversal symmetry is violated. This will be done with a mercury EDM experiment, which has reached such a level of sensitivity that it is now possible to make an exacting test of low energy supersymmetry and other models in which T-violation would occur naturally. At the same time, an experiment with optically cooled and trapped diamagnetic atoms, chiefly ytterbium and radium, will be used to explore a possible new realm of EDM sensitivity. Other related efforts include parity nonconservation (PNC) experiments in thallium and the development of a new PNC experiment with a singly ionized barium ion.