Benjamin Augenbraun
Williams College, MA·Physics
Why is the universe made of matter rather than antimatter? One way to probe this question is to look for tiny violations of fundamental symmetries, such as an electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron.
- Fields
Physics
Chemistry
- Topics
electron electric dipole moment
electron EDM
nuclear Schiff moment
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2028
What they work on
- Measure the electronic, vibrational, rotational, and hyperfine (nuclear spin) structure of molecules pairing copper, silver, or gold with lead, using laser spectroscopy to see which wavelengths of light they absorb.
- Connect spectroscopic measurements of coinage metal–lead molecules to their sensitivity to the electron electric dipole moment and nuclear Schiff moments, using theoretical models.
- Identify methods to form coinage metal–lead molecules at ultracold temperatures and demonstrate laser-based control of their motion and quantum states.
- Search for additional metal-containing molecules whose motion and quantum states can be controlled with laser light, for future use in precision measurement and quantum information science.
More about the research
An EDM is a slight uneven distribution of charge, and theories beyond the Standard Model of particle physics predict it. Molecules that contain heavy atoms can greatly amplify these effects. Precision measurements of molecules have already produced some of the strongest tests of new physics. This project aims to find and characterize new molecules that could make these searches more sensitive.
Why it matters
Identifying molecules that are highly sensitive to symmetry-violating effects such as the electron EDM or nuclear Schiff moments could enable next-generation tests of physics beyond the Standard Model. These tests bear on why the universe contains more matter than antimatter. Molecules that lasers can control may also serve quantum information science, and heavy-metal molecules matter for materials development.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Lan Cheng
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Chemistry
Develop relativistic quantum-chemical methods that accurately describe how electron and nuclear motions couple in heavy-atom molecules, a key input for designing laser-cooling and precision-measurement experiments.
Andrea Shindler
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Physics
Calculate the electric dipole moments of protons and neutrons induced by theories beyond the Standard Model, to probe the source of the universe's matter-antimatter asymmetry.
Adam Holley
Tennessee Technological University, TN·Physics
Incorporate measured magnetic field maps of the UCNtau Halbach permanent-magnet array and first-principles simulations of the stored ultracold neutron phase space into a semiclassical spin-tracking Monte Carlo model of neutron depolarization.
The school
Williams College: 2 labs on PI Pages, $7M a year on research.
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