An improved limit on 171Yb electric dipole moment
Abstract
Searches for permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs) probe new sources of CP violation beyond the Standard Model. The atomic EDM of 171Yb, which is sensitive to its nuclear Schiff moment, is a promising candidate, but previous measurements were limited by noise and systematic effects induced by the optical dipole trap (ODT) that holds the atoms. Here we report a substantially improved search enabled by a dual-ODT configuration with orthogonal polarizations, and spin measurements for precise alignment of static and optical fields. By suppressing the key parity-mixing systematic effect and vector light-shift noise, we achieve a limit of |d(171Yb)| < 7.5 × 10−28 e·cm (95\% C.L.), which represents a 20-fold improvement over the previous work. We also present the first calculation of the nuclear structure factors of the Schiff moment of 171Yb. The experimental and theoretical advances combine to tighten constraints on CP-violating pion-nucleon couplings in a global analysis. Moreover, this work demonstrates a pathway toward future measurements in 225Ra, where nuclear deformation offers exceptional sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model.
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BibTeX
@misc{wang2026improved,
title = {{An improved limit on $^171\textYb$ electric dipole moment}},
author = {S. -Z. Wang and S. -B. Wang and E. F. Zhou and Z. -J. Tao and J. -M. Yao and T. Xia and Z. -T. Lu},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.22739},
eprint = {2610.22739},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22739},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - An improved limit on ^171Yb electric dipole moment
AU - S. -Z. Wang
AU - S. -B. Wang
AU - E. F. Zhou
AU - Z. -J. Tao
AU - J. -M. Yao
AU - T. Xia
AU - Z. -T. Lu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.22739
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22739
AB - Searches for permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs) probe new sources of CP violation beyond the Standard Model. The atomic EDM of ^171Yb, which is sensitive to its nuclear Schiff moment, is a promising candidate, but previous measurements were limited by noise and systematic effects induced by the optical dipole trap (ODT) that holds the atoms. Here we report a substantially improved search enabled by a dual-ODT configuration with orthogonal polarizations, and spin measurements for precise alignment of static and optical fields. By suppressing the key parity-mixing systematic effect and vector light-shift noise, we achieve a limit of |d(^171Yb)| < 7.5 × 10^−28 e·cm (95\% C.L.), which represents a 20-fold improvement over the previous work. We also present the first calculation of the nuclear structure factors of the Schiff moment of ^171Yb. The experimental and theoretical advances combine to tighten constraints on CP-violating pion-nucleon couplings in a global analysis. Moreover, this work demonstrates a pathway toward future measurements in ^225Ra, where nuclear deformation offers exceptional sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model.
ER -