arXiv subjects

V. V. Flambaum

Publications and source records attributed to V. V. Flambaum.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Coherent axion-photon transformations in the forward scattering on atoms

In certain laboratory experiments the production and/or detection of axions is due to the photon-axion transformations in a strong magnetic field. This process is coherent, and the rate of the transformation is proportional to the length $l$ and magnitude $B$ of the magnetic field squared, $\sim l^2B^2$. In the present paper, we consider coherent production of axions due to the forward scattering of photons on atoms or molecules. This process may be represented as being due to an effective electromagnetic field which converts photons to axions. We present analytical expressions for such effective magnetic and electric fields induced by resonant atomic M0 and M1 transitions, as well as give some numerical estimates for these fields. The corresponding experiments would allow one to measure the electron-axion coupling constant $g_{ae}$ in the same way as the photon-axion coupling $g_{aγ}$ is studied.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Dark Matter near gravitating bodies

In this paper, we show that in the vicinity of certain astronomical bodies, e.g., a Neutron Star, a Black Hole, there exist significant enhancements of Dark Matter's density and current, due to its interaction with the gravitational field of the bodies. This enhancement implies that the effects of Dark Matter - Normal Matter interactions are enhanced and hence might be observable.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Isotopic variation of parity violation in atomic ytterbium

We report on measurements of atomic parity violation, made on a chain of ytterbium isotopes with mass numbers A=170, 172, 174, and 176. In the experiment, we optically excite the 6s2 1S0 -> 5d6s 3D1 transition in a region of crossed electric and magnetic fields, and observe the interference between the Stark- and weak-interaction-induced transition amplitudes, by making field reversals that change the handedness of the coordinate system. This allows us to determine the ratio of the weak-interaction-induced electric-dipole (E1) transition moment and the Stark-induced E1 moment. Our measurements, which are at the 0.5% level of accuracy for three of the four isotopes measured, allow a definitive observation of the isotopic variation of the weak-interaction effects in an atom, which is found to be consistent with the prediction of the Standard Model. In addition, our measurements provide information about an additional Z' boson.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2018

Screening of oscillating external electric field in atoms

We study the screening of a homogeneous oscillating external electric field $E_0$ in noble-gas atoms using atomic many-body calculations. At zero frequency of the oscillations ($ω=0$) the screened field $E(r)$ vanishes at the nucleus, $E(0)=0$. However, the profile of the field $E(r)$ is complicated, with the magnitude of the field exceeding the external field $E_0$ at certain points. For $ω>0$ the field $E(r,ω)$ strongly depends on $ω$ and at some points may exceed the external field $E_0$ many times. The field at the nucleus is not totally screened and grows with $ω$ faster than $ω^2$. It can even be enhanced when $ω$ comes close to resonance with a frequency of an atomic transition. This field interacts with CP-violating nuclear electric dipole moments creating new opportunities for studying them. The screening of the external field by atomic electrons may strongly suppress (or enhance near an atomic resonance) the low energy nuclear electric dipole transitions.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2018

Additional clock transitions in neutral ytterbium bring new possibilities for testing physics beyond the Standard Model

We study the prospects of using transitions from the ytterbium ground state to metastable states $^3{\rm P}^{\rm o}_2$ at $E=19\,710.388~$cm$^{-1}$ and $4f^{13}5d6s^2\,(J=2)$ at $E=23\,188.518~$cm$^{-1}$ as clock transitions in an optical lattice clock. Having more than one clock transition in Yb could benefit the search for new physics beyond the Standard Model via studying the non-linearity of King's plot or the time-variation of the ratio of the frequencies of two clock transitions. We calculate the lifetime of the states, relevant transition amplitudes, systematic shifts, and the sensitivities of the clock transitions to a variation of the fine structure constant and to the gravitational potential. We find that both transitions can probably support ultra-high accuracy, similar to what is already achieved for the $^1$S$_0$ - $^3$P$^{\rm o}_0$ clock transition.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2018

Enhanced nuclear spin dependent parity violation effects using the 199HgH molecule

Electron interactions with the nuclear-spin-dependent (NSD) parity non-conserving (PNC) anapole moment are strongly enhanced within heteronuclear diatomic molecules. A novel, low-energy optical rotation experiment is being proposed with the aim of observing NSD PNC interactions in HgH. Based on the relativistic coupled cluster method we present a complete calculation of the circular polarization parameter $P = 2\,\textrm{Im}(E1_{PNC})/M1 \approx 3 \times 10^{-6}\; κ$ for the $^2Σ_{1/2} \to ^2Π_{1/2}$ optical transition of HgH, where $κ$ is a dimensionless constant determined by the nuclear anapole moment. This provides an improvement in sensitivity to NSD PNC by 2 -- 3 orders of magnitude over the leading atomic Xe, Hg, Tl, Pb and Bi optical rotation experiments, and shows that the proposed measurement will be sensitive enough to extract the $^{199}$Hg anapole moment and shed light on the underlying theory of hadronic parity violation.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2018

Interference-assisted resonant detection of axions

Detection schemes for the quantum chromodynamics axions and other axion-like particles in light-shining-through-a-wall (LSW) experiments are based on the conversion of these particles into photons in a magnetic field. An alternative scheme may involve the detection via a resonant atomic or molecular transition induced by resonant axion absorption. The signal obtained in this process is second order in the axion-electron interaction constant but may become first order if we allow interference between the axion-induced transition amplitude and the transition amplitude induced by the electromagnetic radiation that produces the axions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Isotope shift, non-linearity of King plots and the search for new particles

We derive a mean-field relativistic formula for the isotope shift of an electronic energy level for arbitrary angular momentum; we then use it to predict the spectra of superheavy metastable neutron-rich isotopes belonging to the hypothetical island of stability. Our results may be applied to the search for superheavy atoms in astrophysical spectra using the known values of the transition frequencies for the neutron deficient isotopes produced in the laboratory. An example of a relevant astrophysical system may be the spectra of the Przybylski's star where superheavy elements up to Z=99 have been possibly identified. In addition, it has been recently suggested to use the measurements of King plot non-linearity in a search for hypothetical new light bosons. On the other hand, one can find the non-linear corrections to the King-plot arising already in the Standard Model framework. We investigate contributions to the non-linearity arising from relativistic effects in the isotope field-shift, the nuclear polarizability and many-body effects. It is found that the nuclear polarizability contribution can lead to the significant deviation of the King plot from linearity. Therefore, the measurements of the non-linearity of King plots may be applied to obtain the nuclear polarizability change between individual isotopes. We then proceed with providing a rough analytical estimate of the non-linearity arising solely from the effect of a hypothetical scalar boson. Our predictions give theoretical limitations on the sensitivity of the search for new interactions and should help to identify the most suitable atoms for corresponding experiments.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2017

Probing low-mass vector bosons with parity nonconservation and nuclear anapole moment measurements in atoms and molecules

In the presence of P-violating interactions, the exchange of vector bosons between electrons and nucleons induces parity-nonconserving (PNC) effects in atoms and molecules, while the exchange of vector bosons between nucleons induces anapole moments of nuclei. We perform calculations of such vector-mediated PNC effects in Cs, Ba$^+$, Yb, Tl, Fr and Ra$^+$ using the same relativistic many-body approaches as in earlier calculations of standard-model PNC effects, but with the long-range operator of the weak interaction. We calculate nuclear anapole moments due to vector boson exchange using a simple nuclear model. From measured and predicted (within the standard model) values for the PNC amplitudes in Cs, Yb and Tl, as well as the nuclear anapole moment of $^{133}$Cs, we constrain the P-violating vector-pseudovector nucleon-electron and nucleon-proton interactions mediated by a generic vector boson of arbitrary mass. Our limits improve on existing bounds from other experiments by many orders of magnitude over a very large range of vector-boson masses.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2017

Isotope Shifts in the 7s$\rightarrow$8s Transition of Francium: Measurements and Comparison to \textit{ab initio} Theory

We observe the electric-dipole forbidden $7s\rightarrow8s$ transition in the francium isotopes $^{208-211}$Fr and $^{213}$Fr using a two-photon excitation scheme. We collect the atoms online from an accelerator and confine them in a magneto optical trap for the measurements. In combination with previous measurements of the $7s\rightarrow7p_{1/2}$ transition we perform a King Plot analysis. We compare the thus determined ratio of the field shift constants (1.230 $\pm$ 0.019) to results obtained from new ab initio calculations (1.234 $\pm$ 0.010) and find excellent agreement.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2017

Search for axion-like dark matter through nuclear spin precession in electric and magnetic fields

We report on a search for ultra-low-mass axion-like dark matter by analysing the ratio of the spin-precession frequencies of stored ultracold neutrons and $^{199}$Hg atoms for an axion-induced oscillating electric dipole moment of the neutron and an axion-wind spin-precession effect. No signal consistent with dark matter is observed for the axion mass range $10^{-24}~\textrm{eV} \le m_a \le 10^{-17}~\textrm{eV}$. Our null result sets the first laboratory constraints on the coupling of axion dark matter to gluons, which improve on astrophysical limits by up to 3 orders of magnitude, and also improves on previous laboratory constraints on the axion coupling to nucleons by up to a factor of 40.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Effect of nuclear quadrupole moment on parity nonconservation in atoms

Nuclei with spin $I \ge 1$ have a weak quadrupole moment which leads to tensor contribution to the parity non-conserving interaction between nuclei and electrons. We calculate this contribution for Yb$^+$, Fr and Ra$^+$ and found it to be small. In contrast, in many lanthanides (e.g., Nd, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, Pr, Sm) and Ra close levels of opposite parity lead to strong enhancement of the effect making it sufficiently large to be measured. Another possibility is to measure the PNC transitions between the hyperfine components of the ground state of Bi. Since nuclear weak charge is dominated by neutrons this opens a way of measuring quadrupole moments of neutron distribution in nuclei.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2017

Isotope shift and search for metastable superheavy elements in astrophysical data

Spectral lines belonging to the short-lifetime heavy radioactive elements up to Es ($Z$=99) have been found in the spectra of the Przybylski's star. We suggest that these unstable elements may be decay products of a "magic" metastable nucleus belonging to the the island of stability where the nuclei have a magic number of neutrons $N=184$. The laboratory-produced nuclei have a significantly smaller number of neutrons. To identify spectra of the $N=184$ isotopes of these nuclei and their neutron-reach superheavy decay products in astrophysical data we calculate the isotope shift which should be added to the laboratory - measured wavelenghs. The results for the isotopic shifts in the strongest optical electromagnetic transitions in No, Lr, Nh, Fl,and $Z$=120 elements are presented.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2017

Effects of the Lorentz invariance violation in Coulomb interaction in nuclei and atoms

Anisotropy in the speed of light that has been constrained by Michelson-Morley-type experiments also generates anisotropy in the Coulomb interactions. This anisotropy can manifest itself as an energy anisotropy in nuclear and atomic experiments. Here the experimental limits on Lorentz violation in 21Ne are used to improve the limits on the Lorentz symmetry in the photon sector, namely the anisotropy of the speed of light and the Coulomb interactions, by 7 orders of magnitude in comparison with previous experiments: the speed of light is isotropic to a part in E-28.

nucl-th↗

arXiv2017

Enhanced effect of CP-violating nuclear magnetic quadrupole moment in HfF$^+$ molecule

HfF$^+$ cation is a very promising system to search for the electron electric dipole moment (EDM), and corresponding experiment is carried out by E. Cornell group. Here we theoretically investigate the cation to search for another T,P-odd effect -- the nuclear magnetic quadrpole moment (MQM) interaction with electrons. We report the first accurate ab initio relativistic electronic structure calculations of the molecular parameter $W_M$=0.494 $\frac{10^{33}\mathrm{Hz}}{e~{\rm cm}^2}$ that is required to interpret the experimental data in terms of the MQM of Hf nucleus. For this we have implemented and applied the combined Dirac-Coulomb(-Gaunt) and relativistic effective core potential approaches to treat electron correlation effects from all of the electrons and to take into account high-order correlation effects using the coupled cluster method with single, double, triple and noniterative quadruple cluster amplitudes, CCSDT(Q). We discuss interpretation of the MQM effect in terms of the strength constants of T,P-odd nuclear forces, proton and neutron EDM, QCD parameter $θ$ and quark chromo-EDM.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2016

Electron recombination with tungsten ions with open f-shells

We calculate the electron recombination rates with target ions W$^{q+}$, $q = 18$ -- $25$, as functions of electron energy and electron temperature (i.e. the rates integrated over the Maxwellian velocity distribution). Comparison with available experimental data for W$^{18+}$, W$^{19+}$, and W$^{20+}$ is used as a test of our calculations. Our predictions for W$^{21+}$, W$^{22+}$, W$^{23+}$, W$^{24+}$, and W$^{25+}$ (where the experimental data are not available) may be used for plasma modelling in thermonuclear reactors. The results for the temperature dependent rates for each ion are fitted with the standard analytical expressions to make them easy to use. All of these ions have an open electron $f$-shell and have an extremely dense spectrum of chaotic many-electron compound resonances which enhance the recombination rates by 2-3 orders of magnitude in comparison with the direct electron recombination. Conventional dielectronic recombination theory is not directly applicable in this case. Instead, we developed a statistical theory based on the properties of chaotic eigenstates. This theory describes a multi-electronic recombination (extension of the dielectronic recombination) via many-excited-electron compound resonances.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2016

Prediction of quantum many-body chaos in protactinium atom

Energy level spectrum of protactinium atom (Pa, Z=91) is simulated with a CI calculation. Levels belonging to the separate manifolds of a given total angular momentum and parity $J^π$ exhibit distinct properties of many-body quantum chaos. Moreover, an extremely strong enhancement of small perturbations takes place. As an example, effective three-electron interaction is investigated and found to play a significant role in the system. Chaotic properties of the eigenstates allow one to develop a statistical theory and predict probabilities of different processes in chaotic systems.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2016

Combining configuration interaction with perturbation theory for atoms with large number of valence electrons

A version of the configuration interaction (CI) method is developed which treats highly excited many-electron basis states perturbatively, so that their inclusion does not affect the size of the CI matrix. This removes, at least in principle, the main limitation of the CI method in dealing with many-electron atoms or ions. We perform calculations of the spectra of iodine and its ions, tungsten, and ytterbium as examples of atoms with open $s$, $p$, $d$ and $f$-shells. Good agreement of the calculated data with experiment illustrates the power of the method. Its advantages and limitations are discussed.

physics.atom-ph↗