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arXiv:1602.00867

VIP 2: Experimental tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons

Andreas Pichler, S. Bartalucci, M. Bazzi, S. Bertolucci, C. Berucci, M. Bragadireanu, M.Cargnelli, A. Clozza, Catalina Curceanu, Luca De Paolis, S. Di Matteo, A. D’Uffizi, J.-P. Egger, C. Guaraldo, M. Iliescu, T. Ishiwatari, Matthias Laubenstein, Johann Marton, E. Milotti, Dorel Pietreanu, Kristian Piscicchia, Titus Ponta, E. Sbardella, A. Scordo, H. Shi, D. L. Sirghi, Florin Catalin Sirghi, L. Sperandio, O. Vázquez Doce, E. Widmann, Johann Zmeskal

Published Feb 2, 2016• 0 citations
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Abstract

The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) was famously discovered in 1925 by the austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli. Since then, it underwent several experimental tests. Starting in 2006, the VIP (Violation of the Pauli Principle) experiment looked for 2p to 1s X-ray transitions in copper, where 2 electrons are present in the 1s state before the transition happens. These transitions violate the PEP, and the lack of detection of the corresponding X-ray photons lead to a preliminary upper limit for the violation of the PEP of 4.7 * 10^(-29). The follow-up experiment VIP 2 is currently in the testing phase and will be transported to its final destination, the underground laboratory of Gran Sasso in Italy, in autumn 2015. Several improvements compared to its predecessor like the use of new X-ray detectors and active shielding from background gives rise to a goal for the improvement of the upper limit of the probability for the violation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle of 2 orders of magnitude.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1602.00867

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The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) was famously discovered in 1925 by the austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli. Since then, it underwent several experimental tests. Starting in 2006, the VIP (Violation of the Pauli Principle) experiment looked for 2p to 1s X-ray transitions in copper, where 2 electrons are present in the 1s state before the transition happens. These transitions violate the PEP, and the lack of detection of the corresponding X-ray photons lead to a preliminary upper limit for the violation of the PEP of 4.7 * 10^(-29). The follow-up experiment VIP 2 is currently in the testing phase and will be transported to its final destination, the underground laboratory of Gran Sasso in Italy, in autumn 2015. Several improvements compared to its predecessor like the use of new X-ray detectors and active shielding from background gives rise to a goal for the improvement of the upper limit of the probability for the violation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle of 2 orders of magnitude.
The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) was famously discovered in 1925 by the austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli. Since then, it underwent several experimental tests. Starting in 2006, the VIP (Violation of the Pauli Principle) experiment looked for 2p to 1s X-ray transitions in copper, where 2 electrons are present in the 1s state before the transition happens. These transitions violate the PEP, and the lack of detection of the corresponding X-ray photons lead to a preliminary upper limit for the violation of the PEP of 4.7 * 10^(-29). The follow-up experiment VIP 2 is currently in the testing phase and will be transported to its final destination, the underground laboratory of Gran Sasso in Italy, in autumn 2015. Several improvements compared to its predecessor like the use of new X-ray detectors and active shielding from background gives rise to a goal for the improvement of the upper limit of the probability for the violation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle of 2 orders of magnitude.
Full text: The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) represents one of the fundamental principles of modern physics and much of our comprehension of the matter is based on it. There are no compelling reasons to doubt its validity, but a lively debate on its limits is going on, due to the lack of an explanation based on fundamental principles. One possible experiment is to measure the violation of PEP with electrons. The experimental method consists of introducing new electrons into a copper strip and to look for x-rays resulting from the 2p {yields} 1s anomalous x-rays transitions emitted if one of the new electrons would be captured by a copper atom and cascades down to the 1s state already filled with two electrons of opposite spin. The goal of the VIP experiment is to lower the present limit on the probability that PEP is violated by electrons, obtained by Ramberg and Snow (limit {<=} 1.7 x 10{sup -26}) by about 4 orders of magnitude. To minimize the background the measurement will be performed in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory. Preliminary measurements were already performed. Presently the experiment is collecting data in Gran Sasso. The limit of PEP violation was already improved by two orders of magnitude. The results will be presented and the physics case discussed. (author)
The VIP-2 experiment tests the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) for electrons at the Gran Sasso underground National Laboratory (LNGS) of INFN in Italy, looking for a possible violation. The LNGS provide an extremely low background environment, ideal for performing high precision X-ray spectroscopy measurements on electrons atomic transitions. The core of the VIP-2 experimental apparatus is based on a copper target circulated by a Direct Current (DC) and surrounded by silicon drift detectors (SDDs), which offer excellent performance in X-ray spectroscopy in the energy range experimentally observed by VIP-2. The aim of VIP-2 is to look for eventual PEP-forbidden Kα\alphaα transitions (2p →\rightarrow→ 1s) in copper atoms, when the 1s level would be already occupied by two electrons, in contradiction with PEP. The energy of the Kα\alphaα forbidden transitions is about 300 eV less than the nominal energy of the Kα\alphaα PEP-allowed transition. This energy shift is due to the screening effect produced by the extra electron in fundamental level, and is detectable by means of a high precision X-ray spectroscopy measurement. About ten years ago, the VIP experiment set the best upper limit on the PEP violation probability $\beta^2/2<4.74.74.7~\times~10^{-29}$ for electrons. The goal of the VIP-2 experiment is to improve this limit by two orders of magnitude. This paper presents a new preliminary result, obtained by analysing two sets of data collected with a partial configuration of the VIP-2 apparatus.
Many experiments investigated the possible violation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) since its discovery in 1925. The VIP(Violation of the Pauli Principle) experiment tested the PEP by measuring the probability for an external electron to be captured and undergo a 2p to 1s transition during its cascading process, with the 1s state already occupied by two electrons. This transition is forbidden by the PEP. The VIP experiment resulted in an upper limit for the probability of PEP violation of 4.7 × 10 −29 . Currently a setup for the follow up experiment VIP2 is under preparation. The goal of this experiment is to improve the upper limit for the violation of the PEP by two orders of magnitude, by using new X-ray detectors and by implementing an active shielding. We then present the idea of using an analogous experimental technique to search for X rays as a signature of the spontaneous collapse of the wave function, predicted by the continuous spontaneous localization theories, and discuss some very encouraging preliminary results.
The validity of the Pauli exclusion principle—a building block of Quantum Mechanics—is tested for electrons. The VIP (violation of Pauli exclusion principle) and its follow-up VIP-2 experiments at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso search for X-rays from copper atomic transitions that are prohibited by the Pauli exclusion principle. The candidate events—if they exist—originate from the transition of a 2 p orbit electron to the ground state which is already occupied by two electrons. The present limit on the probability for Pauli exclusion principle violation for electrons set by the VIP experiment is 4.7 × 10 − 29 . We report a first result from the VIP-2 experiment improving on the VIP limit, which solidifies the final goal of achieving a two orders of magnitude gain in the long run.
The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) represents one of the fundamental principles of the modern physics and our comprehension of the surrounding matter is based on it. Even if today there are no compelling reasons to doubt its validity, it still spurs a lively debate on its limits, as testified by the abundant contributions found in the literature and in topical conferences. We present a method of searching for possible small violations of PEP for electrons, through the search for "anomalous" X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by "fresh" electrons which can decay in a Pauli-forbidden transition to the 1s level, already occupied by two electrons. The VIP Experiment has the scientific goal to improve by four orders of magnitude the present limit on the probability of PEP violation for electrons, bringing it into the 10-30–10-31 region. Preliminary results, together with future plans, are presented.