Andrew Glassford | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

New Bounds on Exotic Long-Range Spin-Spin Interactions

Many proposed extensions to the Standard Model of particle physics introduce new bosons that can mediate forces which couple to particle spin. Here we describe a search for such forces coupling spin-polarized neutrons and protons in our magnetometer to spin-polarized electrons within Earth. We measure these interactions by varying the orientation of an optical $^{199}$Hg-$^{133}$Cs free-precession comagnetometer mounted upon a precision rotation platform. From these measurements, we establish upper bounds on the dimensionless coupling constants associated with the axial-axial potential $V_2$ and the axial-vector potential $V_{11}$ as a function of the force's range $\lambda$. For the electron-neutron and electron-proton potential $V_2$ at infinite range, we find $|g_A^eg_A^n| \leq 3.0 \times 10^{-48}$ and $|g_A^eg_A^p| \leq 3.0 \times 10^{-47}$. For $V_{11}$, we find our most stringent bounds to be $|g_A^eg_V^n| \leq 2.2 \times 10^{-25}$ and $|g_A^eg_V^p| \leq 2.2 \times 10^{-24}$ at $\lambda \approx 10^3$ km. Our results represent an improvement over previous results by up to a factor of 17 and set the most stringent bounds on long-range axial-axial and axial-vector couplings between electron spins and neutron and proton spins.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2024

Spherically symmetric Earth models yield no net electron spin

Terrestrial experiments that use electrons in Earth as a spin-polarized source have been demonstrated to provide strong bounds on exotic long-range spin-spin and spin-velocity interactions. These bounds constrain the coupling strength of many proposed ultralight bosonic dark-matter candidates. Recently, it was pointed out that a monopole-dipole coupling between the Sun and the spin-polarized electrons of Earth would result in a modification of the precession of the perihelion of Earth. Using an estimate for the net spin-polarization of Earth and experimental bounds on Earth's perihelion precession, interesting constraints were placed on the magnitude of this monopole-dipole coupling. Here we investigate the spin associated with Earth's electrons. We find that there are about $6 \times 10^{41}$ spin-polarized electrons in the mantle and crust of Earth oriented anti-parallel to their local magnetic field. However, when integrated over any spherically-symmetric Earth model, we find that the vector sum of these spins is zero. In order to establish a lower bound on the magnitude of the net spin along Earth's rotation axis we have investigated three of the largest breakdowns of Earth's spherical symmetry: the large low shear-velocity provinces of the mantle, the crustal composition, and the oblate spheroid of Earth. From these investigations we conclude that there are at least $5 \times 10^{38}$ spin-polarized electrons aligned anti-parallel to Earth's rotation axis. This analysis suggests that the bounds on the monopole-dipole coupling that were extracted from Earth's perihelion precession need to be relaxed by a factor of about 2000.

hep-ph↗