English

$P-$state Positronium for Precision Physics: an Ultrafine Splitting at $\alpha^6$

Atomic Physics 2017-09-13 v1 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

An "ultrafine" splitting in positronium between the L=1L=1 spin-singlet state and the spin-average of the spin-triplet states is shown to arise only at order α6\alpha^6. The QED prediction for n=2n=2 states is Δ2,P=(683/172800)mα6=73.7(1.2)\Delta_{2,P}=(683/172800)m\alpha^6=73.7(1.2) kHz. This represents the smallest leading-order QED splitting known. Current experimental efforts could observe this splitting, and its observation can constrain new ultralight interactions, such as axions or ZZ'.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1705.10431,
  title  = {$P-$state Positronium for Precision Physics: an Ultrafine Splitting at $\alpha^6$},
  author = {Henry Lamm},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1705.10431},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

4 pages, no figures