eEDM: Measurement of the electron electric dipole moment

基本粒子物理学的标准模型预测，电子的电偶极矩（eEDM）太小而无法测量。然而，标准模型的现代扩展-例如超对称理论或其他具有额外粒子或场的理论-预测了实验可达到的范围内的值。因此，eEDM测量是对标准模型之外的物理学的探索。由于永久电子EDM违反了时间反演对称性，它也与CP破坏和宇宙中物质和反物质之间明显的不对称性的重要问题密切相关。我们现在正在进行迄今为止最灵敏的eEDM测量，这是一种测试新物理理论的测量。我们的方法使用激光操纵冷极性分子，这些分子最终可能被困在超低温下。与当前最佳测量相比，这种方法有望将eEDM搜索的精度提高两个数量级。在这项提案中，我们正在寻求对一项正在进行的发展方案的支持，这将使我们能够实现这一承诺。这提供了一个令人兴奋的前景，即通过检测非零eEDM发现新的物理，或者通过不存在eEDM排除拟议的新物理。

The Standard Model of elementary particle physics predicts that the electric dipole moment of the electron (eEDM) is far too small to measure. However, modern extensions to the standard model - e.g. supersymmetric theories or other theories with additional particles or fields - predict values in the range accessible to experiment. Hence, the eEDM measurement is a search for physics beyond the standard model. Since a permanent electron EDM violates time reversal symmetry, it is also deeply connected to the important issue of CP violation and the apparent asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe. We are now in the middle of making the most sensitive eEDM measurement to date, a measurement that tests theories of new physics. Our method uses laser manipulation of cold polar molecules, which may eventually be trapped at ultralow temperature. This approach has the promise of improving on the precision of the eEDM search by two orders of magnitude compared with the current best measurement. In this proposal, we are seeking support for an ongoing programme of development that will allow us to realise this promise. This offers the exciting prospect of either discovering new physics through the detection of a non-zero eEDM or of excluding proposed new physics through the absence of an eEDM.