Searches for the permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs) of molecules, atoms, nucleons and nuclei provide powerful probes of CP violation both within and beyond the Standard Model (BSM). The interpretation of experimental EDM limits requires careful delineation of physics at a wide range of distance scales, from the long-range atomic and molecular scales to the short-distance dynamics of physics at or beyond the Fermi scale. In this review, we provide a framework for disentangling contributions from physics at these disparate scales, building out from the set of di-mension four and six effective operators that embody CP violation at the Fermi scale. We survey existing computations of hadronic and nuclear matrix elements associated with Fermi-scale CP violation in systems of experimental interest, and quantify the present level of theoretical uncer-tainty in these calculations. Using representative BSM scenarios of current interest, we illustrate how the interplay of physics at various scales generates EDMs at a potentially observable level. 1 ar

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There is strong circumstantial evidence that the shape of atomic nuclei with particular values of Z and N prefers to assume octupole deformation, in which the nucleus is distorted into a pear shape that loses the reflection symmetry of a quadrupole-deformed (rugby ball) shape prevalent in nuclei. Recently, useable intensities of accelerated beams of heavy, radioactive ions have become available at the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN. This has allowed electric octupole transition strengths, a direct measure of octupole correlations, to be determined for short-lived isotopes of radon and radium expected to be unstable to pear-like distortions. The data are used to discriminate differing theoretical approaches to the description of the octupole phenomena, and also help restrict the choice of candidates for studies of atomic electric-dipole