Molecular enhancement factors for P, T-violating eEDM in BaCH$_3$ and YbCH$_3$ symmetric top molecules

TL;DR

This study calculates P, T-odd electronic structure parameters for BaCH3 and YbCH3 molecules using high-accuracy relativistic methods, aiding future experiments testing fundamental symmetries and the electron EDM.

Contribution

It provides the first systematic high-accuracy calculations of P, T-odd parameters for BaCH3 and YbCH3, demonstrating their potential for symmetry violation experiments.

Findings

BaCH3 and YbCH3 exhibit larger enhancement factors than other similar molecules.

Calculated values with uncertainties enable interpretation of future experimental results.

The computational scheme is accurate, robust, and applicable to other polyatomic molecules.

Abstract

High-precision tests of fundamental symmetries are looking for the parity- (P), time-reversal- (T) violating electric dipole moment of the electron (eEDM) as proof of physics beyond the Standard Model. Particularly, in polyatomic molecules, the complex vibrational and rotational structure gives the possibility to reach high enhancement of the P, T-odd effects in moderate electric fields. Additionally, it is possible to increase the statistical sensitivity by using laser cooling. In this work, we calculate the P, T-odd electronic structure parameters $W_\mathrm{d}$ and $W_\mathrm{s}$ for the promising candidates BaCH$_3$ and YbCH$_3$ for the interpretation of future experiments. We employ high-accuracy relativistic coupled cluster methods and systematically evaluate the uncertainties of our computational approach. Compared to other Ba- and Yb-containing molecules, BaCH$_3$ and YbCH$_3$ exhibit larger $W_\mathrm{d}$ and $W_\mathrm{s}$ associated to increased covalent character of the M--C bond. The calculated values are $3.22\pm 0.11 \times 10^{24}\frac{h\text{Hz}}{e\text{cm}}$ and $13.80\pm 0.35 \times 10^{24}\frac{h\text{Hz}}{e\text{cm}}$ for $W_\mathrm{d}$, and $8.42\pm0.29$~$h$kHz and $45.35\pm1.15$~$h$kHz for $W_\mathrm{s}$, in BaCH$_3$ and YbCH$_3$, respectively. The robust, accurate, and cost-effective computational scheme reported in this work makes our results suitable for extracting the relevant fundamental properties from future measurements and also can be used to explore other polyatomic molecules sensitive to various violations of fundamental symmetries.