Is the neutron EDM nonzero at the 10^-27 e cm level? · revision history

Revision 2

Accepted · core change · record

Changes against revision 1:

Title · changed
Revision 1: Is the neutron EDM nonzero at the 1e-27 e cm level?
Revision 2: Is the neutron EDM nonzero at the $10^{-27}$ e cm level?
Plain
Slow neutrons stored in a bottle precess in electric and magnetic fields, and a dipole would shift their precession rate when the electric field is flipped. No shift has yet been seen.
Precise · changed · core
Revision 1: The best bound is $\left|d_n\right| < 1.8e-26\,e\,\mathrm{cm}$ (90% CL, PSI 2020) using ultracold neutrons with a Hg-199 comagnetometer. Determine whether $d_n$ is nonzero at the $1e-27\,e\,\mathrm{cm}$ level, which corresponds to the QCD vacuum angle $\left|\theta_{\mathrm{bar}}\right|$ of order 1e-11 (using $d_n$ of about $1e-16\,\theta_{\mathrm{bar}}\,e\,\mathrm{cm}$).
Revision 2: The best bound is $\left|d_n\right| < 1.8 \times 10^{-26}\,e\,\mathrm{cm}$ (90% CL, PSI 2020) using ultracold neutrons with a Hg-199 comagnetometer. Determine whether $d_n$ is nonzero at the $10^{-27}\,e\,\mathrm{cm}$ level, which corresponds to the QCD vacuum angle $\left|\theta_{\mathrm{bar}}\right|$ of order $10^{-11}$ (using $d_n$ of about $10^{-16}\,\theta_{\mathrm{bar}}\,e\,\mathrm{cm}$).
Settled by · changed · core
Revision 1: A neutron EDM measurement with total uncertainty near 1e-27 e cm (n2EDM at PSI, or the US and Canadian ultracold-neutron efforts).
Revision 2: A neutron EDM measurement with total uncertainty near $10^{-27}$ e cm (n2EDM at PSI, or the US and Canadian ultracold-neutron efforts).
Kind
well-posed
Answer type
yes-no
References
(empty)
Literature status
open
Status note
The n2EDM apparatus at PSI was commissioned in 2024-2026 with its magnetic shielding and field uniformity characterized; no new limit as of mid-2026.
Posed since
1950

Decisions