Probing CP violation with the electric dipole moment of atomic mercury

TL;DR

This paper presents a highly accurate theoretical calculation of the electric dipole moment of atomic mercury, providing new bounds on CP violation parameters and emphasizing the importance of electron correlation effects.

Contribution

Developed a novel relativistic coupled-cluster method to calculate atomic mercury's EDM, yielding the most precise bounds on CP violation parameters to date.

Findings

New bounds on $ heta_{QCD}$, $C_T$, and $( ilde{d}_u - ilde{d}_d)$

Demonstrated the importance of electron correlation effects

Significant improvements over previous calculations

Abstract

The electric dipole moment of atomic $^{199}$Hg induced by the nuclear Schiff moment and tensor-pseudotensor electron-nucleus interactions has been calculated. For this, we have developed and employed a novel method based on the relativistic coupled-cluster theory. The results of our theoretical calculations combined with the latest experimental result of $^{199}$Hg electric dipole moment, provide new bounds on the T reversal or CP violation parameters $\theta_{\rm QCD}$, the tensor-pseudotensor coupling constant $C_T$ and $(\widetilde{d}_u - \widetilde{d}_d)$. This is the most accurate calculation of these parameters to date. We highlight the the crucial role of electron correlation effects in their interplay with the P,T violating interactions. Our results demonstrate substantial changes in the results of earlier calculations of these parameters which can be attributed to the more accurate inclusion of important correlation effects in the present work.