VIP2 at Gran Sasso - Test of the validity of the spin statistics theorem for electrons with X-ray spectroscopy

TL;DR

The VIP2 experiment at Gran Sasso tests the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons with unprecedented precision using X-ray spectroscopy, aiming to detect possible violations predicted by quantum mechanics modifications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel high-precision experimental method to search for small violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle in electrons using X-ray spectroscopy at LNGS.

Findings

Preliminary results set new limits on PEP violation probability.

Method achieves sensitivity down to 10^{-31} in violation probability.

No violation observed within current experimental sensitivity.

Abstract

In the VIP2 (VIolation of the Pauli Exlusion Principle) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) we are searching for possible violations of standard quantum mechanics predictions. With high precision we investigate the Pauli Exclusion Principle and the collapse of the wave function (collapse models). We will present our experimental method of searching for possible small violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons, via the search for "anomalous" X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by "new" electrons (brought inside a copper bar by circulating current) which could have the probability to undergo Pauli-forbidden transition to the ground state (1 s level) already occupied by two electrons. We will describe the concept of the VIP2 experiment taking data at LNGS presently. The goal of VIP2 is to test the PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10$^{-31}$. We will show preliminary experimental results obtained at LNGS and discuss implications of a possible violation.