Comment on "Prospects for a new search for the electron electric-dipole moment in solid gadolinium-iron-garnet ceramics"

TL;DR

This paper critiques the assumption that EDM-induced magnetization in solid gadolinium-iron-garnet ceramics is proportional to spin, proposing that a Lorentz covariant approach suggests a different interaction mechanism.

Contribution

It challenges the conventional interpretation of EDM-induced magnetization by applying a Lorentz covariant framework, proposing an alternative interaction explanation.

Findings

EDM-induced magnetization may not exist in 4D spacetime

Magnetization could result from direct E and MDM interaction

Revises understanding of EDM effects in solid-state systems

Abstract

In a recent paper [A. O. Sushkov, S. Eckel and S. K. Lamoreaux, Phys. Rev. A 79, 022118 (2009), arXiv:0810.2756 ] the authors measured the EDM-induced magnetization M that is given by Eq. (1) in their paper. Such an expression for M is a consequence of the generally accepted opinion that both dipole moments, a MDM m and an EDM d, are proportional to the spin S. Recently [T. Ivezic, Phys. Scr. 81, 025001 (2010)] the Uhlenbeck-Goudsmit hypothesis is generalized in a Lorentz covariant manner using the four-dimensional (4D) geometric quantities. From the viewpoint of such formulation there is no EDM-induced magnetization M; in the 4D spacetime the EDM d^{a} is not proportional to S^{a}. It is argued that the induced M can come from the direct interaction between the applied electric field E^{a} and a MDM m^{a}.