Searching For Physics Beyond The Standard Model Using Laser-Trapped Radioactive Sodium Atom

Searching for Physics Beyond the Standard Model Using Laser-Trapped Radioactive Sodium Atoms

Paul Vetter
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

ABSTRACT:

Precise measurements of nuclear beta decay provide interesting "almost tabletop" tests of the Standard Model. Several Beyond-Standard-Model models predict interactions between leptons and quarks mediated by bosons with masses of a few TeV. These as-yet-undetected interactions would change the observable behavior of nuclear beta decay. Our experiment is performed at the 88" cyclotron at LBNL, just up the hill from UCB. Using a magneto-optic trap, we capture the 22 second half-life species 21Na, and detect the daughter nucleus emitted in beta decay. The isotopic selectivity and geometry of a magneto-optic trap make it a nearly ideal environment** to study radioactive decays. By measuring the momentum of the recoil nucleus, we can infer the correlation between the momenta of the emitted positron and neutrino. This kinematic observable is sensitive to new bosons, and our experiment finds no new physics at roughly the 1 TeV level. Several other interesting experiments are possible with our technique.

• (although several interesting atomic physics issues provide challenging experimental problems...)