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Journal of Physics Conference Series

VIP-2 - Testing spin-statistics for electrons with high sensitivity

Johann Marton, A. Amirkahani, Sergio Bartalucci, M. Bazzi, S. Bertolucci, M. Bragadireanu, M. Cargnelli, A. Clozza, Catalina Curceanu, Luca De Paolis, J.-P. Egger, C. Guaraldo, M. Iliescu, Matthias Laubenstein, E. Milotti, Andreas Pichler, Dorel Pietreanu, Kristian Piscicchia, A. Scordo, Hexi Shi, D. L. Sirghi, Florin Catalin Sirghi, Luciano Sperandio, O. Vázquez Doce, Johann Zmeskal

Published Feb 1, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The VIP-2 (VIolation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle) experiment conducted at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for possible tiny violations of standard quantum mechanics in copper atoms with extremely high sensitivity. We investigate atomic transitions with precision X-ray spectroscopy in order to test the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) and therefore the spin-statistics theorem. We present the experimental method for the search for "anomalous" (i.e. Pauli-forbidden) X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by "new" electrons, which could have a tiny probability to undergo a Pauli-forbidden transition to the 1s ground state already occupied by two electrons. We describe the VIP-2 experimental setup and its recent optimisations. Presently VIP-2 is taking data at LNGS. The goal of VIP-2 is to test PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10 −31 (and using a more elaborate analysis even 10 −40 ). We present current experimental results.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/1468/1/012230

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The VIP-2 (VIolation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle) experiment conducted at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for possible tiny violations of standard quantum mechanics in copper atoms with extremely high sensitivity. We investigate atomic transitions with precision X-ray spectroscopy in order to test the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) and therefore the spin-statistics theorem. We present the experimental method for the search for "anomalous" (i.e. Pauli-forbidden) X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by "new" electrons, which could have a tiny probability to undergo a Pauli-forbidden transition to the 1s ground state already occupied by two electrons. We describe the VIP-2 experimental setup and its recent optimisations. Presently VIP-2 is taking data at LNGS. The goal of VIP-2 is to test PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10 −31 (and using a more elaborate analysis even 10 −40 ). We present current experimental results.
Abstract The VIP2 (VIolation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) is searching for possible violations of standard quantum mechanics predictions in atoms at very high sensitivity. We investigate atomic transitions with precision X-ray spectroscopy in order to test the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) and therefore the related spin-statistics theorem. We will present our experimental method for the search for “anomalous” (i.e. Pauli-forbidden) X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by “new” electrons, which could have tiny probability to undergo Pauli-forbidden transition to the ground state already occupied by two electrons. We will describe the VIP2 experimental setup, which is taking data at LNGS presently. The goal of VIP2 is to test the PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10−31. We will present current experimental results and discuss implications of a possible violation.
Abstract In the VIP2 VIolation of the Pauli Exlusion Principle (PEP) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) we are searching for possible violations of standard quantum mechanics predictions. With high precision we investigate the Pauli Exclusion Principle and the collapse of the wave function (collapse models). We will present our experimental method of searching for possible small violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons, via the search for “anomalous” X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by “new” electrons (brought inside a copper bar by circulating current) which could have the probability to undergo Pauli-forbidden transition to the ground state (1 s level) already occupied by two electrons. We will describe the concept of the VIP2 experiment taking data at LNGS presently. The goal of VIP2 is to test the PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10−31. We will show preliminary experimental results obtained at LNGS and discuss implications of a possible violation.
We are experimentally investigating possible violations of standard quantum mechanics predictions in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory in Italy. We test with high precision the Pauli Exclusion Principle and the collapse of the wave function (collapse models). We present our method of searching for possible small violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) for electrons, through the search for "anomalous" X-ray transitions in copper atoms. These transitions are produced by "new" electrons (brought inside the copper bar by circulating current) which can have the possibility to undergo Pauli-forbidden transition to the 1s level already occupied by two electrons. We describe the VIP2 (VIolation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle) experimental data taking at the Gran Sasso underground laboratories. The goal of VIP2 is to test the PEP for electrons in agreement with the Messiah-Greenberg superselection rule with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10 −31 . We show preliminary experimental results and discuss implications of a possible violation.
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.
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)
One of the fundamental rules of nature and a pillar in the foundation of quantum theory and thus of modern physics is represented by the Pauli Exclusion Principle. We know that this principle is extremely well fulfilled due to many observations. Numerous experiments were performed to search for tiny violation of this rule in various systems. The experiment VIP at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory is searching for possible small violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons leading to forbidden X-ray transitions in copper atoms. VIP is aiming at a test of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons with high accuracy, down to the level of 10 −29 – 10 −30 , thus improving the previous limit by 3–4 orders of magnitude. The experimental method, results obtained so far and new developments within VIP2 (follow-up experiment at Gran Sasso, in preparation) to further increase the precision by 2 orders of magnitude will be presented.