Magnetometry for measuring the electric dipole moment of the electron

This project investigates one of the fundamental mysteries of the universe, namely why cosmological observations show a universe dominated by regular matter, when our current understand of the laws of physics indicates both matter and anti-matter should have been made in nearly equal amounts in the Big Bang.

This mystery, and others like it, indicate that there must be new physics -- new forces and particles -- waiting to be discovered.

We search for evidence of this new physics by measuring the roundness of the electron, the so-called electron electric dipole moment, as precisely as possible. At the level of our measurements, the known laws of physics predict that the electron will be perfectly round.

A large swath of new theories, which have been proposed but never yet verified experimentally, predict a much less round electron, tantalizingly within the grasp of our experiments. These same new theories also help answer mysteries like the observed matter/anti-matter imbalance.

Thus, measuring the electric dipole moment of the electron has the potential to not only reveal evidence for new physics, but also to distinguish between which new theories might be correct, guiding theoretical physics to a new and deeper understanding of the universe. We have built a new experiment to measure the electron roundness.

This experiment is exceptionally sensitive to magnetic fields which, if not controlled, can ruin the experimental sensitivity.

We are requesting funds for magnetometers that will allow us to characterize and control magnetic fields in the experiment, which is one of the most challenging and crucial aspects of measuring the electron at the required precision.

These magnetometers will also provide us with critical data needed for designing the next generation experiment that could potentially be 10-100 times more precise.