arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G. Pignol.
We have searched for a short-range spin-dependent interaction mediated by a hypothetical light scalar boson with CP-violating couplings to the neutron using the spin relaxation of hyperpolarized $^3$He. The walls of the $^3$He cell would generate a depolarizing pseudomagnetic field.
There is a deep connection between cosmology -- the science of the infinitely large --and particle physics -- the science of the infinitely small. This connection is particularly manifest in neutron particle physics. Basic properties of the neutron -- its Electric Dipole Moment and its lifetime -- are intertwined with baryogenesis and nucleosynthesis in the early Universe. I will cover this topic in the first part, that will also serve as an introduction (or rather a quick recap) of neutron physics and Big Bang cosmology. Then, the rest of the manuscript will be devoted to a new idea: using neutrons to probe models of Dark Energy. In the second part, I will present the chameleon theory: a light scalar field accounting for the late accelerated expansion of the Universe, which interacts with matter in such a way that it does not mediate a fifth force between macroscopic bodies. However, neutrons can alleviate the chameleon mechanism and reveal the presence of the scalar field with properly designed experiments. In the third part, I will describe a recent experiment performed with a neutron interferometer at the Institut Laue Langevin that sets already interesting constraints on the chameleon theory. Last, the chameleon field can be probed by measuring the quantum states of neutrons bouncing over a mirror. In the fourth part I will present the status and prospects of the GRANIT experiment at the ILL.
We describe a spin-echo method for ultracold neutrons (UCNs) confined in a precession chamber and exposed to a $|B_0|=1~\text{μT}$ magnetic field. We have demonstrated that the analysis of UCN spin-echo resonance signals in combination with knowledge of the ambient magnetic field provides an excellent method by which to reconstruct the energy spectrum of a confined ensemble of neutrons. The method takes advantage of the relative dephasing of spins arising from a gravitationally induced striation of stored UCN of different energies, and also permits an improved determination of the vertical magnetic-field gradient with an exceptional accuracy of $1.1~\text{pT/cm}$. This novel combination of a well-known nuclear resonance method and gravitationally induced vertical striation is unique in the realm of nuclear and particle physics and should prove to be invaluable for the assessment of systematic effects in precision experiments such as searches for an electric dipole moment of the neutron or the measurement of the neutron lifetime.
We compare the expected effects of so-called gravitationally enhanced depolarization of ultracold neutrons to measurements carried out in a spin-precession chamber exposed to a variety of vertical magnetic-field gradients. In particular, we have investigated the dependence upon these field gradients of spin depolarization rates and also of shifts in the measured neutron Larmor precession frequency. We find excellent qualitative agreement, with gravitationally enhanced depolarization accounting for several previously unexplained features in the data.
We report on the measurement of a Larmor frequency shift proportional to the electric-field strength for $^{199}{\rm Hg}$ atoms contained in a volume permeated with aligned magnetic and electric fields. This shift arises from the interplay between the inevitable magnetic field gradients and the motional magnetic field. The proportionality to electric-field strength makes it apparently similar to an electric dipole moment (EDM) signal, although unlike an EDM this effect is P- and T-conserving. We have used a neutron magnetic resonance EDM spectrometer, featuring a mercury co-magnetometer and an array of external cesium magnetometers, to measure the shift as a function of the applied magnetic field gradient. Our results are in good agreement with theoretical expectations.
The dark photon, an new hypothetical light spin 1 field, constitutes a well-motivated dark matter candidate. It manifests as an oscillating electric field with a fixed direction, which can be observed in magnetometric records. In this letter, we use magnetometer data from the Voyager probes to look for the dark photon in the 10^-24 eV to 10^-19 eV mass range, corresponding to frequencies between 10^-9 Hz and 10^-4 Hz. We also discuss the sensitivity of possible future SQUID magnetometry experiments.
We present phase shift measurements for neutron matter waves in vacuum and in low pressure Helium using a method originally developed for neutron scattering length measurements in neutron interferometry. We search for phase shifts associated with a coupling to scalar fields. We set stringent limits for a scalar chameleon field, a prominent quintessence dark energy candidate. We find that the coupling constant $β$ is less than 1.9 $\times10^7$~for $n=1$ at 95\% confidence level, where $n$ is an input parameter of the self--interaction of the chameleon field $φ$ inversely proportional to $φ^n$.
Quantum states of ultracold neutrons in the gravitational field are to be characterized through gravitational resonance spectroscopy. This paper discusses systematic effects that appear in the spectroscopic measurements. The discussed frequency shifts, which we call Stern-Gerlach shift, interference shift, and spectator state shift, appear in conceivable measurement schemes and have general importance. These shifts have to be taken into account in precision experiments.
We report a new limit on a possible short range spin-dependent interaction from the precise measurement of the ratio of Larmor precession frequencies of stored ultracold neutrons and $^{199}$Hg atoms confined in the same volume. The measurement was performed in a $\sim$1$μ$ T vertical magnetic holding field with the apparatus searching for a permanent electric dipole moment of the neutron at the Paul Scherrer Institute. A possible coupling between freely precessing polarized neutron spins and unpolarized nucleons of the wall material can be investigated by searching for a tiny change of the precession frequencies of neutron and mercury spins. Such a frequency change can be interpreted as a consequence of a short range spin-dependent interaction that could possibly be mediated by axions or axion-like particles. The interaction strength is proportional to the CP violating product of scalar and pseudoscalar coupling constants $g_Sg_P$. Our result confirms limits from complementary experiments with spin-polarized nuclei in a model-independent way. Limits from other neutron experiments are improved by up to two orders of magnitude in the interaction range of $10^{-6}<λ<10^{-4}$ m.
The neutron gyromagnetic ratio has been measured relative to that of the 199Hg atom with an uncertainty of 0.8 ppm. We employed an apparatus where ultracold neutrons and mercury atoms are stored in the same volume and report the result $γ_{\rm n}/γ_{\rm Hg} = 3.8424574(30)$.
The Surrounding Field Compensation (SFC) system described in this work is installed around the four-layer Mu-metal magnetic shield of the neutron electric dipole moment spectrometer located at the Paul Scherrer Institute. The SFC system reduces the DC component of the external magnetic field by a factor of about 20. Within a control volume of approximately 2.5m x 2.5m x 3m disturbances of the magnetic field are attenuated by factors of 5 to 50 at a bandwidth from $10^{-3}$ Hz up to 0.5 Hz, which corresponds to integration times longer than several hundreds of seconds and represent the important timescale for the nEDM measurement. These shielding factors apply to random environmental noise from arbitrary sources. This is achieved via a proportional-integral feedback stabilization system that includes a regularized pseudoinverse matrix of proportionality factors which correlates magnetic field changes at all sensor positions to current changes in the SFC coils.
Gravitational resonance spectroscopy consists in measuring the energy spectrum of bouncing ultracold neutrons above a mirror by inducing resonant transitions between different discrete quantum levels. We discuss how to induce the resonances with a flow through arrangement in the GRANIT spectrometer, excited by an oscillating magnetic field gradient. The spectroscopy could be realized in two distinct modes (so called DC and AC) using the same device to produce the magnetic excitation. We present calculations demonstrating the feasibility of the newly proposed AC mode.
We present a theoretical analysis of spin relaxation, for a polarized gas of spin 1/2 particles undergoing restricted adiabatic diffusive motion within a container of arbitrary shape, due to magnetic field inhomogeneities of arbitrary form.
Experiments aiming at measuring the neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) are at the forefront of precision measurements and demand instrumentation of increasing sensitivity and reliability. In this paper, we report on the development of a dedicated acquisition and control electronics board for the nEDM experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland. This multifunction module is based on a FPGA (Field-programmable gate array) which allows an optimal combination of versatility and evolution capacities.
We report on a neutron particle physics experiment, which provides for the first time an upper limit on the strength of an axial coupling constant for a new light spin 1 boson in the millimeter range. Such a new boson would mediate a new force between ordinary fermions, like neutrons and protons. The experiment was set up at the cold neutron reflectometer Narziss at the Paul Scherrer Institute and uses Ramsey's technique of separated oscillating fields to search for a pseudomagnetic neutron spin precession induced by this new interaction. For the axial coupling constant $g_A^2$, an upper limit of $6\times10^{-13}$ (95% C.L.) was determined for an interaction range of 1 mm.
The probability of transition between levels of a quantum bouncer, induced by a noise-like perturbation, is calculated. The results are applied to two sources of noise (vibrations and mirror surface waviness) which might play an important role in future GRANIT experiment, aiming at precision studies of/with the neutron quantum bouncer.
If a new light boson existed, it would mediate a new force between ordinary fermions, like neutrons. In general such a new force is described by the Compton wavelength $λ_c$ of the associated boson and a set of dimensionless coupling constants. For light boson masses of about $10^-4$ eV, $λ_c$ is of the order millimeters. Here, we propose a table-top particle physics experiment which provides the possibility to set limits on the strength of the coupling constants of light bosons with spin-velocity coupling. It utilises Ramsey's technique of separated oscillating fields to measure the pseudo-magnetic effect on neutron spins passing by a massive sample.
A permanent electric dipole moment of fundamental spin-1/2 particles violates both parity (P) and time re- versal (T) symmetry, and hence, also charge-parity (CP) symmetry since there is no sign of CPT-violation. The search for a neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) probes CP violation within and beyond the Stan- dard Model. The experiment, set up at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), an improved, upgraded version of the apparatus which provided the current best experimental limit, dn < 2.9E-26 ecm (90% C.L.), by the RAL/Sussex/ILL collaboration: Baker et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 131801 (2006). In the next two years we aim to improve the sensitivity of the apparatus to sigma(dn) = 2.6E-27 ecm corresponding to an upper limit of dn < 5E-27 ecm (95% C.L.), in case for a null result. In parallel the collaboration works on the design of a new apparatus to further increase the sensitivity to sigma(dn) = 2.6E-28 ecm.