RUI: A Search for an Electric Dipole Moment of the Electron(Physics)

提出了测量铯原子的电偶极矩(EDM)，从而测量电子的电偶极矩。电子的EDM的存在意味着对时间反转不变性的破坏。该实验的基本原理是使铯的基态自旋极化，并在外加电场中寻找该极化的进动。使用光学泵浦技术和设计良好的池可以获得高极化和相对较长的寿命。有了精密的偏振分析技术，就有可能观测到非常小的进动。在目前的实验中，大约10(E-25)e-cm的电子电火花应该是可以检测到的。这些结果将对超对称规范理论和其他新的统一模型施加有趣的约束。

It is proposed to measure the electric dipole moment (edm) of the cesium atom and thereby measure the edm of the electron. The existence of an edm for the electron would imply a violation of time-reversal invariance. The basic principle of the experiment is to spin polarize the ground state of cesium and to search for a precession of that polarization in an applied electric field. High polarizations and relatively long lifetimes can be obtained using optical pumping techniques and well designed cells. With precision polarization analyzing techniques, it is possible to observe very small precessions. In the present experiment an electron edm of about 10 (E-25) e-cm should be detectable. These results will place interesting constraints on super-symmetric gauge theories and other new unified models.