Physics Club: Eric Hessels, York University (Toronto, Ontario) - “Testing fundamental physics with table-top precision measurements: The proton size, the fine-structure constant and the electron electric dipole moment”

Event time: 
Monday, December 2, 2019 - 3:30pm to 4:30pm
Location: 
Sloane Physics Laboratory (SPL), Room 59 See map
217 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Event description: 

“Testing fundamental physics with table-top precision measurements: The proton size, the fine-structure constant and the electron electric dipole moment”
Fundamental physics (including physics beyond the Standard Model) can be tested using table-top precision measurements.
The talk will describe measurements of the size of the proton, the fine-structure constant and the electric dipole moment of the electron. Two recently completed measurements will be described. In the first, the n=2 Lamb shift of atomic hydrogen is measured, allowing for a new determination of the charge radius of the proton. This determination is crucial to resolving the decade-old proton radius puzzle, in which it appeared that the proton radius took on a different value when measured with muons compared to measurements using electrons. The second measurement is of the n=2 triplet P fine structure of atomic helium, and this work is part of a program to obtain a new determination of the fine-structure constant. Both of these measurements use a new measurements technique: Frequency offset separated oscillatory fields (FOSOF). Finally, a new major effort (EDM^3) is starting at York University to measure the electron electric dipole moment using polar molecules embedded into inert-gas solids. This measurement will test for T violation and will probe physics at PeV energy scales.
Host: Karsten Heeger , karsten.heeger@yale.edu