POLARIZATION ROTATION EFFECTS DUE TO PARITY VIOLATION IN ATOMS (1994)
BibTeX
@MISC{Botz94polarizationrotation,
author = {G. W. Botz and D. Bruß and O. Nachtmann},
title = {POLARIZATION ROTATION EFFECTS DUE TO PARITY VIOLATION IN ATOMS},
year = {1994}
}
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Abstract
We present a study of parity (P) violating polarization rotations of atoms in external electric fields. Five different types of rotations are identified and the consequences of time reversal invariance (T) are discussed. The role played by Zeldovich’s electric dipole moment of unstable states is elucidated. To calculate the effects, we use the standard model of elementary particle physics where P violation in atoms is due to the exchange of the Z boson between the quarks in the nucleus and the atomic electrons. We consider in detail hydrogen-like systems in n = 2 states, where n is the principal quantum number, especially 1 1 H, 4 2 He+, and 12 6 C5+. There one has the metastable 2S 1/2 states which are separated from the 2P 1/2 states with opposite parity only by the small Lamb shift leading to a relatively large P-violating state mixing. The nominal order of magnitude of the polarization rotations is 10 −11 − 10 −12 but we discuss ways to obtain in some cases large enhancement factors of order 104. We show that e.g. for 1 1H one could in principle observe P-violating polarization rotations as large as a few percent, where for a statistically significant result one would need a total of 1015 polarized atoms. We point out that some of our P-violating polarization rotations are very sensitive to the nuclear spin-dependent part of the P-violating Hamiltonian which receives
Keyphrases
p-violating polarization rotation polarization rotation nuclear spin-dependent part polarized atom different type detail hydrogen-like system principal quantum number small lamb shift atomic electron unstable state elementary particle physic time reversal invariance opposite parity p-violating hamiltonian large p-violating state mixing electric dipole moment nominal order standard model external electric field significant result case large enhancement factor
