title: Order of magnitude smaller limit on the electric dipole moment of the electron.
abstract: The Standard Model of particle physics is known to be incomplete. Extensions to the Standard Model, such as weak-scale supersymmetry, posit the existence of new particles and interactions that are asymmetric under time reversal (T) and nearly always predict a small yet potentially measurable electron electric dipole moment (EDM), d(e), in the range of 10(-27) to 10(-30) e·cm. The EDM is an asymmetric charge distribution along the electron spin (S(→)) that is also asymmetric under T. Using the polar molecule thorium monoxide, we measured d(e) = (-2.1 ± 3.7stat ± 2.5syst) × 10(-29) e·cm. This corresponds to an upper limit of |d(e)| < 8.7 × 10(-29) e·cm with 90% confidence, an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity relative to the previous best limit. Our result constrains T-violating physics at the TeV energy scale.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baron
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: DeMille
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Doyle
authors.forename: G
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authors.lastname: Gabrielse
authors.forename: Y V
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authors.lastname: Gurevich
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Hess
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Hutzler
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kirilov
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kozyryev
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: O'Leary
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authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Panda
authors.forename: M F
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authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Petrik
authors.forename: B
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authors.lastname: Spaun
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Vutha
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: West