Ultra-Cold Neutron Group in Kellogg Lab - Neutron Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) Experiment - Search for new CP violation - Neutron Decay - Precision measurements probe mass scales > TeV Undergrads: Anita Kulkarni, Daniel Molina, Adam Weller Grads: Marie Blatnik, Xuan Sun Postdocs: Simon Slutsky, Chris Swank, Kevin Hickerson Technical Staff: Bob Carr, Chub Osthelder Faculty: Brad Filippone
Ultra-Cold Neutrons (UCN) (Fermi/Zeldovich) What are UCN ? – Very slow neutrons (v 500 Å ) that cannot penetrate into certain materials Neutrons can be trapped and studied Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) Decay properties
UCN from Source UCNA experimental Los Alamos 1-Tesla solenoidal spectrometer 7-Tesla polarizing magnets AFP spin flipper electron detectors muon vetoes Spectrometer, detectors, DAQ from Caltech Precision Measurement of Neutron Decay with Polarized Ultracold Neutrons UCN beamline
Neutron EDM Violates Time Reversal Symmetry? Consider: free neutron with EDM Assume neutron has spin angular momentum and dipole moment parallel This particle is a distinguishable neutron it doesn’t exist ஃ Violates time reversal symmetry T-violation implies CP violation via CPT Theorem
Impact of non-zero EDM Must be new Physics Sharply constrains models beyond the Standard Model (especially with LHC data) May account for matter- antimatter asymmetry of the universe 5 Gray shaded region is excluded New nEDM at 3x e-cm moves limits off graph (> 1000 TeV) Phys. Rev D (2013)
New EDM Experiment Uses Super-fluid Helium to make trapped Ultra-Cold Neutrons >2 orders-of-magnitude improvement in sensitivity is possible Collaboration of 16 Institutions (mostly US) BWF is Spokesperson for Collaboration Magnets and magnetic shields built & tested at Caltech Then to Oak Ridge National Lab for neutrons
nEDM Sensitivity vs Time Future neutron EDM
Possible Future Projects Design and build neutron EDM experiment – Explore improved measurement techniques E.g. “spin dressing” of polarized neutrons and 3 He – Construction at Caltech for next 2 yrs then measurements at Oak Ridge Search for new scalar or tensor interactions (via neutron decay) Precision measurement of neutron lifetime EDM lab tour: Fri. 3-4 PM in Synchrotron Lab
Synchrotron Lab You are HERE N