On the sensitivity of nuclear clocks to new physics
High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
2025-09-16 v2 Nuclear Experiment
Nuclear Theory
Abstract
The recent demonstration of laser excitation of the eV isomeric state of Thorium-229 is a significant step towards a nuclear clock. The low excitation energy likely results from a cancellation between electromagnetic and strong contributions, which new physics can disrupt. In this Letter, we quantify the enhancement of a nuclear clock's sensitivity to new physics using a geometric model and a novel -wave halo model of the nucleus that reproduces measured differences between Thorium-229 states. We find likely enhancements of order while a worst case scenario with enhancement is unlikely.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2407.17526,
title = {On the sensitivity of nuclear clocks to new physics},
author = {Andrea Caputo and Doron Gazit and Hans-Werner Hammer and Joachim Kopp and Gil Paz and Gilad Perez and Konstantin Springmann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.17526},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
Accepted in PRC Letters, 7 pages, 2 figures