ONIX: a nuclear T-violation search using octupole-deformed nuclei in a crystal

by Dr Amar Chandra Vutha (University of Toronto)

Wednesday 29 Nov 2023, 11:30 → 13:30 Europe/Rome

M.B. Ceolin meeting room

The observed dominance of matter over antimatter in the universe, despite fundamental laws that seem to be completely symmetric, poses a challenge to our current understanding of physics. In this context, undiscovered sources of time-reversal (T) symmetry violation are expected to have contributed to the matter-antimatter imbalance. We are working on a new experiment that promises to yield significantly improved sensitivity to nuclear T-violation, manifesting as a nonzero nuclear Schiff moment or nuclear quadrupole moment. Our experiment uses octupole-deformed nuclei, contained within polarized atoms, in a solid-state crystal. I will provide a simple (atomic physicists's) introduction to the attractions of solid-state physicsm motivate our choice of experimental platform, and present an update on our progress.