Searches for permanent electric dipole moments of fundamental particles and systems with spin are the experiments most sensitive to new CP violating physics and a top priority of a growing international community. We briefly review the current status of the field emphasizing on the charged leptons and lightest baryons.
Many experiments are underway in the world to search for a non-zero electric dipole moment (EDM) of a particle with spin 1/2 such as the neutron or the electron. Finding an EDM would reveal new sources of CP violation. EDM measurements are motivated by the high sensitivity to new physics beyond the Standard Model. They are relevant to find the explanation for the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. A variety of programs with different systems are being pursued, with free neutrons, diamagnetic atoms, paramagnetic systems, and charged particles in storage rings. This article presents a basic introduction of the subject and attempts to compile the ongoing projects.
The electric dipole moments (EDMs) of nucleons are sensitive probes of additional $cal CP$ violation sources beyond the standard model to account for the baryon number asymmetry of the universe. As a fundamental quantity of the nucleon structure, tensor charge is also a bridge that relates nucleon EDMs to quark EDMs. With a combination of nucleon EDM measurements and tensor charge extractions, we investigate the experimental constraint on quark EDMs, and its sensitivity to $cal CP$ violation sources from new physics beyond the electroweak scale. We obtain the current limits on quark EDMs as $1.27times10^{-24},ecdot{rm cm}$ for the up quark and $1.17times10^{-24},ecdot{rm cm}$ for the down quark at the scale of $4,rm GeV^2$. We also study the impact of future nucleon EDM and tensor charge measurements, and show that upcoming new experiments will improve the constraint on quark EDMs by about three orders of magnitude leading to a much more sensitive probe of new physics models.
We analyze the implications of CP-violating scalar leptoquark (LQ) interactions for experimental probes of parity- and time-reversal violating properties of polar molecules. These systems are predominantly sensitive to the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron and nuclear-spin-independent (NSID) electron-nucleon interaction. The LQ model can generate both a tree-level NSID interaction as well as the electron EDM at one-loop order. Including both interactions, we find that the NSID interaction can dominate the molecular response. For moderate values of couplings, the current experimental results give roughly two orders of magnitude stronger limits on the electron EDM than one would otherwise infer from a sole-source analysis.
Postulating the existence of a fnite-mass mediator of T,P-odd coupling between atomic electrons and nucleons we consider its effect on permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of diamagnetic atoms. We present both numerical and analytical analysis for such mediator-induced EDMs and compare it with EDM results for the conventional contact interaction. Based on this analysis we derive limits on coupling strengths and carrier masses from experimental limits on EDM of 199Hg atom.
The proposed method exploits charged particles confined as a storage ring beam (proton, deuteron, possibly $^3$He) to search for an intrinsic electric dipole moment (EDM) aligned along the particle spin axis. Statistical sensitivities could approach 10$^{-29}$ e$cdot$cm. The challenge will be to reduce systematic errors to similar levels. The ring will be adjusted to preserve the spin polarisation, initially parallel to the particle velocity, for times in excess of 15 minutes. Large radial electric fields, acting through the EDM, will rotate the polarisation from the longitudinal to the vertical direction. The slow rise in the vertical polarisation component, detected through scattering from a target, signals the EDM. The project strategy is outlined. A stepwise plan is foreseen, starting with ongoing COSY activities that demonstrate technical feasibility. Achievements to date include reduced polarization measurement errors, long horizontal plane polarization lifetimes, and control of the polarization direction through feedback from scattering measurements. The project continues with a proof-of-capability measurement (precursor experiment; first direct deuteron EDM measurement), an intermediate prototype ring (proof-of-principle; demonstrator for key technologies), and finally a high-precision electric-field storage ring.