Symmetry Tests in Nuclei and Atoms

Coordinators: Mei Bai, Susan Gardner, Susanne Mertens, and Andreas Wirzba

Recent strides in nuclear physics, realized in large part through powerful computational approaches, have opened new vistas on the use of nuclei and atoms as precision tools for fundamental symmetry tests within and beyond the Standard Model (SM). 

This one-week conference intends to gather experts in the theoretical, experimental, and accelerator physics that touch upon this subject and provide a platform for sharing current results and insights. Through these discussions we hope not only to strengthen the interconnections between these efforts but also to help define future directions for fundamental physics tests using nuclei and atoms. 

Of central interest is the possibility that nucleons, light nuclei, rare atoms, and molecules could possess permanent electric dipole moments (EDMs), which, if measured, would speak to the presence of fundamental sources of time-reversal (T) and parity (P) violation beyond the SM as we know it. Also of interest is the possibility of neutrinoless double beta decay, whose observation would reveal that the neutrino has a Majorana mass and thus is its own antiparticle. We envision that the conference will include discussion of the following topics: 

  • Nuclear Probes of Dark Matter, Dark Forces, and Sterile Neutrinos 
  • Nuclear Probes of Neutrino Mass and B-L Violation
  • EDMs of the Neutron, Proton, and Few-Nucleon Systems
  • EDMs of Rare Atoms and Molecules 
  • Non-EDM Studies of P and T Violation with Nuclei and Atoms 
  • Windows on Exotica (e.g., Dark Energy) with Nuclei and Atoms