Magnetometry for measuring the electric dipole moment of the electron

这个项目调查了宇宙的一个基本谜团，即为什么宇宙学观测显示宇宙是由常规物质主导的，而我们目前对物理定律的理解表明，在大爆炸中物质和反物质的数量应该几乎相等。这个谜题以及其他类似的谜题表明，一定有新的物理学——新的力和粒子——等待着我们去发现。我们通过尽可能精确地测量电子的圆度，即所谓的电子电偶极矩，来寻找这种新物理学的证据。在我们的测量水平上，已知的物理定律预测电子将是完美的圆形。大量的新理论已经被提出，但还没有被实验证实，它们预言了一个更圆的电子，在我们的实验中诱人地掌握着。这些新理论也有助于回答诸如观察到的物质/反物质不平衡等谜团。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，而且有可能区分哪些新理论可能是正确的，从而指导理论物理学对宇宙进行新的更深入的理解。我们建立了一个新的实验来测量电子的圆度。这个实验对磁场特别敏感，如果不加以控制，就会破坏实验的灵敏度。我们正在申请磁力计的资金，这将使我们能够在实验中表征和控制磁场，这是以所需精度测量电子的最具挑战性和最关键的方面之一。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，这些实验可能比现在精确10-100倍。

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.