Development of Atomic Theory for Tests of Fundamental Symmetries

基本对称性检验的原子理论的发展

• 批准号: 1404156
• 负责人: Marianna Safronova
• 金额: $ 18万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-07-15 至 2017-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1404156&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Development; Atomic; Theory; Tests; Fundamental

This project will investigate how atoms can be used to test our understanding of the fundamental laws of nature, i.e. our understanding of elementary particles and their interactions. While one can search for new particles directly with large collider facilities, it is also possible to test the effects that new particles could have on processes occurring in atoms and molecules. Such experiments require very high precision and a very good understanding of the systems that are being studied. Moreover, certain atoms and molecules might be much better suited to the studies of fundamental interactions owing to their having properties that enhance desired effects. This project will investigate which systems are the best for future studies of this kind. The experimental work in this field also requires theoretical analysis of the experiments, and this work will provide such analysis and will develop methods to improve the accuracy further. This research is at the interface of atomic physics with high-energy physics, nuclear physics, quantum chemistry, and cosmology. While the main goal of this project is to study fundamental symmetries, the methodologies described in this project are applicable to the development of atomic clocks, laser cooling and trapping, study of super-heavy elements, production and control of ultracold molecules, study of degenerate quantum gases, astrophysics, plasma physics, and nuclear physics. Graduate students will be directly involved in the forefront research under this grant and will present the research at the scientific meetings.The main objective of this research is to develop theoretical methods to advance fundamental symmetry tests with atomic and molecular systems in the search of new physics beyond the Standard Model. This project is focused on the study of parity violation and the search for a permanent electric-dipole moment (EDM). The group will develop theoretical methods that will allow identification of the best systems for the next generation of experiments and provide calculations that are crucial for the analysis of current and past experiments. Specific efforts include: (1) introduce the Sturm basis sets and test the performance of all the group?s existing methods using more compact and regular Sturmian basis set functions; (2) develop an accurate method to evaluate contributions of highly-excited states in the sum-over-state approach in order to resolve present problems with the analysis of the most precise parity non-conservation (PNC) study in Cesium; (3) develop a next-generation Configuration Interaction+all-order code for accurate calculations of PNC amplitudes relevant to current experimental research; (4) explore the addition of the effective Hamiltonian to the molecular configuration interaction (CI) code for the study of diatomic molecules.

这个项目将研究如何使用原子来测试我们对自然基本定律的理解，即我们对基本粒子及其相互作用的理解。虽然人们可以用大型对撞机设备直接搜索新粒子，但也可以测试新粒子对原子和分子中发生的过程的影响。这样的实验需要非常高的精度，并且对正在研究的系统有非常好的了解。此外，某些原子和分子可能更适合于基本相互作用的研究，因为它们具有增强预期效果的性质。这个项目将调查哪些系统最适合未来的这类研究。这一领域的实验工作也需要对实验进行理论分析，这项工作将提供这样的分析，并将开发方法，以进一步提高精度。这项研究处于原子物理与高能物理、核物理、量子化学和宇宙学的交界处。虽然该项目的主要目标是研究基本对称性，但该项目中描述的方法适用于原子钟的开发、激光冷却和俘获、超重元素的研究、超冷分子的生产和控制、简并量子气体的研究、天体物理、等离子体物理和核物理。研究生将直接参与这项资助下的前沿研究，并在科学会议上发表研究。这项研究的主要目标是发展理论方法，推进原子和分子系统的基本对称性测试，以寻找超越标准模型的新物理。本项目致力于宇称破坏的研究和永久电偶极矩的寻找。该小组将开发理论方法，以便为下一代实验确定最佳系统，并提供对分析当前和过去的实验至关重要的计算。具体工作包括：(1)介绍Sturm基组，并使用更紧凑和更规则的Sturmian基组函数测试所有群的性能？S现有方法；(2)发展一种精确的方法来评估态总和方法中高激发态的贡献，以解决目前存在的问题，并结合铯最精确的宇称非守恒(PNC)研究；(3)开发新一代组态相互作用+全阶程序，用于准确计算与当前实验研究相关的PNC幅度；(4)探索在双原子分子构型相互作用(CI)程序中加入有效哈密顿量。