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Isotopic variation of parity violation in atomic ytterbium

Nature Physics volume 15, pages 120–123 (2019)Cite this article

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Abstract

The weak force is the only fundamental interaction known to violate the symmetry with respect to spatial inversion (parity). This parity violation can be used to isolate the effects of the weak interaction in atomic systems, providing a unique, low-energy test of the standard model (see, for example, reviews1,2,3). These experiments are primarily sensitive to the weak force between the valence electrons and the nucleus, mediated by the neutral Z0 boson and dependent on the weak charge of the nucleus, Qw. The standard model parameter Qw was most precisely determined in caesium4,5 and has provided a stringent test of the standard model at low energy. The standard model also predicts a variation of Qw with the number of neutrons in the nucleus, an effect whose direct observation we are reporting here. Our studies, made on a chain of ytterbium isotopes, provide a measurement of isotopic variation in atomic parity violation, confirm the predicted standard model Qw scaling and offer information about an additional Z′ boson.

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Fig. 1: Energy-level diagram of Yb with relevant optical transitions.
Fig. 2: Schematic of the Yb atomic-beam apparatus.
Fig. 3: Isotopic variation of the PV effect and bounds on Z′ boson-mediated interactions.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank M. Safronova, M. Kozlov, S. Porsev, M. Zolotorev, A. Viatkina, L. Bougas and N. Leefer for useful discussions. A.F. is supported by the Carl Zeiss Graduate Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helmholtz-Institut Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    D. Antypas & D. Budker

  2. Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany

    A. Fabricant, V. V. Flambaum & D. Budker

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, USA

    J. E. Stalnaker

  4. ASML, Veldhoven, The Netherlands

    K. Tsigutkin

  5. School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney New South Wales, Australia

    V. V. Flambaum

  6. Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA

    D. Budker

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  1. D. Antypas
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Contributions

D.A. built the apparatus, collected and analysed data, and wrote the manuscript. A.F. contributed to the apparatus construction, took data and edited the manuscript. J.E.S. participated in studies of systematic errors, contributed to data analysis and edited the manuscript. K.T. participated in studies of systematics and data analysis. V.V.F. led the analysis of data to extract limits on Z´ boson-mediated interactions. D.B. supervised the project and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to D. Antypas.

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Supplementary Figure 1 and Supplementary Table 1

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Antypas, D., Fabricant, A., Stalnaker, J.E. et al. Isotopic variation of parity violation in atomic ytterbium. Nature Phys 15, 120–123 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-018-0312-8

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