Narrow and Ultranarrow Transitions in Highly Charged Xe Ions as Probes of Fifth Forces

authored by: Nils-Holger Rehbehn, Michael K. Rosner, Julian C. Berengut, Piet O. Schmidt, Thomas Pfeifer, Ming Feng Gu, José R. Crespo López-Urrutia
Abstract: Optical frequency metrology in atoms and ions can probe hypothetical fifth forces between electrons and neutrons by sensing minute perturbations of the electronic wave function induced by them. A generalized King plot has been proposed to distinguish them from possible standard model effects arising from, e.g., finite nuclear size and electronic correlations. Additional isotopes and transitions are required for this approach. Xenon is an excellent candidate, with seven stable isotopes with zero nuclear spin, however it has no known visible ground-state transitions for high resolution spectroscopy. To address this, we have found and measured twelve magnetic-dipole lines in its highly charged ions and theoretically studied their sensitivity to fifth forces as well as the suppression of spurious higher-order standard model effects. Moreover, we identified at 764.8753(16) nm a E2-type ground-state transition with 500 s excited state lifetime as a potential clock candidate further enhancing our proposed scheme.
Organisation(s): Institute of Quantum Optics
QuantumFrontiers
External Organisation(s): National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB)
Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics
University of New South Wales (UNSW)
University of California at Berkeley
Type: Article
Journal: Physical review letters
Volume: 131
ISSN: 0031-9007
Publication date: 20.10.2023
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Physics and Astronomy(all)
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.161803 (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{b0e53274e5984e8f851e6fb84f649412,
title = "Narrow and Ultranarrow Transitions in Highly Charged Xe Ions as Probes of Fifth Forces",
abstract = "Optical frequency metrology in atoms and ions can probe hypothetical fifth forces between electrons and neutrons by sensing minute perturbations of the electronic wave function induced by them. A generalized King plot has been proposed to distinguish them from possible standard model effects arising from, e.g., finite nuclear size and electronic correlations. Additional isotopes and transitions are required for this approach. Xenon is an excellent candidate, with seven stable isotopes with zero nuclear spin, however it has no known visible ground-state transitions for high resolution spectroscopy. To address this, we have found and measured twelve magnetic-dipole lines in its highly charged ions and theoretically studied their sensitivity to fifth forces as well as the suppression of spurious higher-order standard model effects. Moreover, we identified at 764.8753(16) nm a E2-type ground-state transition with 500 s excited state lifetime as a potential clock candidate further enhancing our proposed scheme.",
author = "Nils-Holger Rehbehn and Rosner, {Michael K.} and Berengut, {Julian C.} and Schmidt, {Piet O.} and Thomas Pfeifer and Gu, {Ming Feng} and L{\'o}pez-Urrutia, {Jos{\'e} R. Crespo}",
note = "Funding Information: Financial support was provided by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft. We acknowledge support from the Max Planck-Riken-PTB Center for Time, Constants, and Fundamental Symmetries, the collaborative research center “SFB 1225 (ISOQUANT)” and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany{\textquoteright}s Excellence Strategy—EXC-2123 QuantumFrontiers—390837967. J. C. B. was supported in this work by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Australian Research Council (DP190100974). This work has been funded by the “European Metrology Program for Innovation and Research” (EMPIR) project 20FUN01 TSCAC. This project has received funding from the EMPIR programme co-financed by the participating states and from the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 101019987).",
year = "2023",
month = oct,
day = "20",
doi = "10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.161803",
language = "English",
volume = "131",
journal = "Physical review letters",
issn = "0031-9007",
publisher = "American Physical Society",
number = "16",
}