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Journal of Physics Conference Series

The key role of the Silicon Drift Detectors in testing the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons: the VIP-2 experiment

Luca De Paolis, Aidin Amirkhani, Sergio Bartalucci, S. Bertolucci, M. Bazzi, M. Bragadireanu, M. Cargnelli, A. Clozza, Catalina Curceanu, R. Del Grande, J.-P. Egger, Carlo Ettore Fiorini, C. Guaraldo, M. Iliescu, Matthias Laubenstein, Johann Marton, T Mazzocchi, Marco Miliucci, E. Milotti, Andreas Pichler, Dorel Pietreanu, Kristian Piscicchia, A. Scordo, Hexi Shi, D. L. Sirghi, Florin Catalin Sirghi, Luciano Sperandio, O. Vázquez Doce, M Veith, Johann Zmeskal

Published May 1, 2020• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract The VIP experiment performed an accurate investigation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons. The apparatus was installed in the Gran Sasso Laboratories of the National Institute of Nuclear Physic in Italy, an underground environment with an extremely low cosmic background. The aim of the experiment was to test the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons in a copper target circulated by a Direct Current (DC) current, searching for X-rays emission due to an atomic transition forbidden by Pauli exclusion principle, from the L shell to the K shell of copper when the K shell is already occupied by two electrons. VIP set an upper limit on the Pauli exclusion principle violation probability 1/2β 2 <4.7 χ 10–29. The goal of the upgraded VIP-2 experiment, presently in data taking at Gran Sasso Laboratories, is to improve this limit by two orders of magnitude. The VIP-2 experimental apparatus, in which the Silicon Drift Detectors have the key role of X-ray detectors, and preliminary results are presented.

DOI
10.1088/1742-6596/1548/1/012033

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Acta Physica Polonica B Proceedings Supplement•Nov 18, 2020•0 citations
Abstract The VIP experiment performed an accurate investigation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons. The apparatus was installed in the Gran Sasso Laboratories of the National Institute of Nuclear Physic in Italy, an underground environment with an extremely low cosmic background. The aim of the experiment was to test the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons in a copper target circulated by a Direct Current (DC) current, searching for X-rays emission due to an atomic transition forbidden by Pauli exclusion principle, from the L shell to the K shell of copper when the K shell is already occupied by two electrons. VIP set an upper limit on the Pauli exclusion principle violation probability 1/2β 2 <4.7 χ 10–29. The goal of the upgraded VIP-2 experiment, presently in data taking at Gran Sasso Laboratories, is to improve this limit by two orders of magnitude. The VIP-2 experimental apparatus, in which the Silicon Drift Detectors have the key role of X-ray detectors, and preliminary results are presented.
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.
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.
The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) is a fundamental law in physics, governing the behavior of fermionic particles. The VIP2 Experiment tests this principle with high sensitivity, by search for Pauli-forbidden atomic transitions from the 2p to the 1s shell in copper. The principle of the experiment is to introduce “new” electrons into a copper conductor via a current. The electrons have the possibility to form states with a symmetric component with the atoms of the conductor. These states would violate the Pauli Exclusion Principle. A possible violation is observed by detecting and counting X-rays, originating from the conductor. The transition energy of Pauli-forbidden Kα X-rays is shifted in energy by 300 eV with respect to the normal Kα line. This energy difference can be resolved using Silicon Drift Detectors. From the number of photons in the energy region, where the Pauli-forbidden transition is expected, an upper limit for the probability of a violation of the PEP can be calculated. The thesis starts by explaining the physics behind the VIP2 experiment. Subsequently, the experimental setup is discussed, including: Silicon Drift detectors for X-ray detection, scintillators with Silicon photomultiplier readout for active shielding, a cryogenic system for cooling the detectors and a data acquisition system and an experiment control system. The data taken with the described setup in Vienna and in the underground laboratory in Gran Sasso (LNGS) is compared to simulations. The data selection and the detector calibration is described in detail. The final chapter deals with different methods for the analysis of the data taken at LNGS.
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^{-29}−29 - 10−30^{-30}−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.
The VIP collaboration is performing high sensitivity tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons in the extremely low cosmic background environment of the underground Gran Sasso National Laboratory INFN (Italy). In particular, the VIP-2 Open Systems experiment was conceived to put strong constraints on those Pauli Exclusion Principle violation models which respect the so-called Messiah-Greenberg superselection rule. The experimental technique consists of introducing a direct current in a copper conductor, and searching for the X-rays emission coming from a forbidden atomic transition from the L shell to the K shell of copper when the K shell is already occupied by two electrons. The analysis of the first three months of collected data (in 2018) is presented. The obtained result represents the best bound on the Pauli Exclusion Principle violation probability which fulfills the Messiah-Greenberg rule.
The VIP experiment aims to perform high-precision tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons in the extremely low cosmic background environment of the Underground Gran Sasso Laboratories of INFN (Italy). The experimental technique consists in introducing a DC current in a copper conductor, searching for Kα PEP-forbidden atomic transitions when the K shell is already occupied by two electrons. The results of a preliminary data analysis, corresponding to the first run of the VIP-2 data taking (2016–2017), are presented. The experimental setup in the final configuration is described together with preliminary spectra from the 2019 data-taking campaign.