In this work, the molecular enhancement factors of the P,T-odd interactions involving the electron electric dipole moment (Wd) and the scalar-pseudoscalar nucleon-electron couplings (Ws) are computed for the ground state of the bimetallic molecules YbCu, YbAg, and YbAu. These systems offer a promising avenue for creating cold molecules by associating laser-cooled atoms. The relativistic coupled-cluster approach is used in the calculations, and a thorough uncertainty analysis is performed to give accurate and reliable uncertainties to the obtained values.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe nuclear charge radius of ^{32}Si was determined using collinear laser spectroscopy. The experimental result was confronted with ab initio nuclear lattice effective field theory, valence-space in-medium similarity renormalization group, and mean field calculations, highlighting important achievements and challenges of modern many-body methods. The charge radius of ^{32}Si completes the radii of the mirror pair ^{32}Ar-^{32}Si, whose difference was correlated to the slope L of the symmetry energy in the nuclear equation of state.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMolecules containing short-lived, radioactive nuclei are uniquely positioned to enable a wide range of scientific discoveries in the areas of fundamental symmetries, astrophysics, nuclear structure, and chemistry. Recent advances in the ability to create, cool, and control complex molecules down to the quantum level, along with recent and upcoming advances in radioactive species production at several facilities around the world, create a compelling opportunity to coordinate and combine these efforts to bring precision measurement and control to molecules containing extreme nuclei. In this manuscript, we review the scientific case for studying radioactive molecules, discuss recent atomic, molecular, nuclear, astrophysical, and chemical advances which provide the foundation for their study, describe the facilities where these species are and will be produced, and provide an outlook for the future of this nascent field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe isotopically chiral molecular ion CHDBrI is identified as an exceptionally promising candidate for the detection of parity violation in vibrational transitions. The largest predicted parity-violating frequency shift reaches 1.8 Hz for the hydrogen wagging mode which has a sub-Hz natural line width and its vibrational frequency auspiciously lies in the available laser range.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParity non-conservation (PNC) due to the weak interaction is predicted to give rise to enantiomer dependent vibrational constants in chiral molecules, but the phenomenon has so far eluded experimental observation. The enhanced sensitivity of molecules to physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM) has led to substantial advances in molecular precision spectroscopy, and these may be applied to PNC searches as well. Specifically, trapped molecular ion experiments leverage the universality of trapping charged particles to optimize the molecular ion species studied toward BSM searches, but in searches for PNC, only a few chiral molecular ion candidates have been proposed so far.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a theory-experiment investigation of the helically chiral compounds Ru(acac) and Os(acac) as candidates for next-generation experiments for detection of molecular parity violation (PV) in vibrational spectra. We used relativistic density functional theory calculations to identify optimal vibrational modes with expected PV effects exceeding by up to 2 orders of magnitude the projected instrumental sensitivity of the ultrahigh resolution experiment under construction at the Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers in Paris. Preliminary measurements of the vibrational spectrum of Ru(acac) carried out as the first steps toward the planned experiment are presented.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a four-component relativistic approach to describe the effects of the nuclear spin-dependent parity-violating (PV) weak nuclear forces on nuclear spin-rotation (NSR) tensors. The formalism is derived within the four-component polarization propagator theory based on the Dirac-Coulomb Hamiltonian. Such calculations are important for planning and interpretation of possible future experiments aimed at stringent tests of the standard model through the observation of PV effects in NSR spectroscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA measurement of the magnitude of the electric dipole moment of the electron (eEDM) larger than that predicted by the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics is expected to have a huge impact on the search for physics beyond the SM. Polar diatomic molecules containing heavy elements experience enhanced sensitivity to parity (P) and time-reversal (T)-violating phenomena, such as the eEDM and the scalar-pseudoscalar (S-PS) interaction between the nucleons and the electrons, and are thus promising candidates for measurements. The NL-eEDM collaboration is preparing an experiment to measure the eEDM and S-PS interaction in a slow beam of cold BaF molecules [P.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOne of the most important properties influencing the chemical behavior of an element is the electron affinity (EA). Among the remaining elements with unknown EA is astatine, where one of its isotopes, At, is remarkably well suited for targeted radionuclide therapy of cancer. With the At anion being involved in many aspects of current astatine labeling protocols, the knowledge of the electron affinity of this element is of prime importance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe report a methodology that allows the investigation of the consequences of the spin-orbit coupling by means of the QTAIM and ELF topological analyses performed on top of relativistic and multiconfigurational wave functions. In practice, it relies on the "state-specific" natural orbitals (NOs; expressed in a Cartesian Gaussian-type orbital basis) and their occupation numbers (ONs) for the quantum state of interest, arising from a spin-orbit configuration interaction calculation. The ground states of astatine diatomic molecules (AtX with X = AtF) and trihalide anions (IAtI , BrAtBr , and IAtBr ) are studied, at exact two-component relativistic coupled cluster geometries, revealing unusual topological properties as well as a significant role of the spin-orbit coupling on these.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAccurate predictions of hyperfine structure (HFS) constants are important in many areas of chemistry and physics, from the determination of nuclear electric and magnetic moments to benchmarking of new theoretical methods. We present a detailed investigation of the performance of the relativistic coupled cluster method for calculating HFS constants within the finite-field scheme. The two selected test systems are Cs and BaF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe NL-eEDM collaboration is building an experimental setup to search for the permanent electric dipole moment of the electron in a slow beam of cold barium fluoride molecules [NL-eEDM Collaboration, Eur. Phys. J.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrecise experimental setups for detection of variation of fundamental constants, scalar dark matter, or gravitational waves, such as laser interferometers, optical cavities, and resonant-mass detectors, are directly linked to measuring changes in material size. Here we present calculated and experiment-derived estimates for both α and μ dependence of lattice constants and bond lengths of selected solid-state materials and diatomic molecules that are needed for interpretation of such experiments.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effects of parity violation (PV) on the vibrational transitions of chiral uranium compounds of the type N≡UXYZ and N≡UHXY (X, Y, Z = F, Cl, Br, I) are analysed by means of exact two-component relativistic (X2C) Hartree-Fock and density functional calculations using NUFClI and NUHFI as representative examples. The PV contributions to the vibrational transitions were found to be in the Hz range, larger than for any of the earlier proposed chiral molecules. Thus, these systems are very promising candidates for future experimental PV measurements.
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