Nuclear Structure Studies for Schiff Moment Enhancement
One of the major open questions in modern physics is the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the universe. While the Standard Model contains sources of charge-parity (CP) violation, they appear insufficient to explain the observed dominance of matter over antimatter. As a result, searches for additional sources of CP violation are an important area of contemporary nuclear and particle physics. Atomic electric dipole moments (EDMs) provide sensitive probes of CP-violating interactions. In heavy nuclei, the observable atomic EDM can be enhanced through the presence of a nuclear Schiff moment, which arises from CP-violating nuclear forces and nuclear structure effects. The review paper Nuclear Schiff Moments and CP Violation by Jonathan Engel provides an overview of the theoretical framework connecting CP violation, nuclear structure, and Schiff moments. The long-term goal of this project is to contribute to the identification and characterization of nuclei that may exhibit enhanced Schiff moments. Such nuclei are often associated with strong octupole correlations or low-energy parity-doublet structures that can amplify CP-violating effects. This report summarizes progress made during the initial phase of the project, including a survey of candidate isotopes and preparation for nuclear-structure calculations using the HFODD code.