A new benchmark for quantum electrodynamics in atoms
The g factor of boron-like tin ions is determined with an uncertainty of only 0.5 parts per billion. The second high-precision measurement for a ground-state boron-like system at all sets a new benchmark for quantum electrodynamics as well as multiple-electron interactions in heavy systems. Combining the new results with the recent electron g-factor measurement of hydrogen-like tin provides a potential for an independent determination of the fine-structure constant α.
Please read more in the Physical Review Letters article and our press release.
Further press releases:
Cross-disciplinary work on high-precision measurements pushes bounds on dark forces
When world-leading teams join forces, new findings are bound to be made. This is what happened when quantum physicists from the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Braunschweig combined atomic and nuclear physics with unprecedented accuracy using two different methods of measurement. Together with new calculations of the structure of atomic nuclei, theoretical physicists from the Technical University of Darmstadt and Leibniz University Hannover were able to show that measurements on the electron shell of an atom can provide information about the deformation of the atomic nucleus. At the same time, the precision measurements have set new limits regarding the strength of a potential dark force between neutrons and electrons. The results have been published in the journal Physical Review Letters.
Please read more in the Physical Review Letters article and our press release.
Read also the press release of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB).
Further press releases:
YouTube video about the publication
Lists of all publications
of the scientific research results of the "Stored and Cooled Ions" Division.
Director
Assistance
Gabriele Weese
Phone +49 6221 516-851
Fax +49 6221 516-852
sekretariat.blaum at mpi-hd.mpg.de