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New Experiment to Measure the Electron Electric Dipole Moment

An electron can possess an electric dipole moment (edm) only if time reversal symmetry (T) is violated. No edm of any particle has yet been discovered. CP-violation, equivalent to T-violation by the CPT theorem, does occur in Kaon decays and can be accounted for by the standard model. However, this mechanism leads to an electron edm d(sub e) of the order of 10(exp -38) e cm, whereas the current experimental bound on d(sub e) is about 10(exp -27) e cm. However, well-motivated extensions of the standard model such as supersymmetric theories do predict that de could be as large as the current bound. In addition, CP violation in the early universe is required to explain the preponderance of matter over anti-matter, but the exact mechanism of this CP violation is unclear. For these reasons, we are undertaking a new experimental program to determine de to an improved accuracy of 10(exp -29) e cm. Our experiment will use laser-cooled, trapped Cesium atoms to measure the atomic edm d(sub Cs) that occurs if d(sub e) is not zero. In order to do this, we will measure the energy splitting between the atoms spin states in parallel electric and magnetic fields. The signature of an edm would be a linear dependence of the splitting on the electric field E due to the interaction - d(sub Cs) dot E. Our measurement will be much more sensitive than previous measurements because atoms can be stored in the trap for tens of seconds, allowing for much narrower Zeeman resonance linewidths. Also, our method eliminates the most important systematic errors, proportional to atomic velocity, which have limited previous experiments. In this presentation, we will describe the design of our new apparatus, which is presently under construction. An important feature of our experimental apparatus is that magnetic field noise will be suppressed to a very low value of the order of 1 fT/(Hz)1/2. This requires careful attention to the Johnson noise currents in the chamber, which have not been important in previous experiments. In addition we will present estimates of the limits of the various errors that we expect for our experiment.

Kittle, Melanie↗

Supersymmetric dark matter above the W mass

The cosmological consequences are studied for the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model in the case that the neutralino is heavier than W. The cross section was calculated for annihilation of heavy neutralinos into final states containing gauge and Higgs bosons (XX yields WW, ZZ, HH, HW, HZ), where X is the lightest, nth neutralino and the results are compared with the results with those previously obtained for annihilation into fermions to find the relic cosmological abundance for the most general neutralino. The new channels are particularly important for the Higgsino-like and mixed-state neutralinos, but are sub-dominant (to the fermion-antifermion annihilation channels) in the case that the neutralino is mostly a gaugino. The effect of the top quark mass is also considered. Using these cross sections and the cosmological constraint omega(sub X)h squared is less than or approximately 1, the entire range of cosmologically acceptable supersymmetric parameter space is mapped and a very general bound on the neutralino mass is discovered. For a top quark mass of less than 180 GeV, neutralinos heavier than 3200 GeV are cosmologically inconsistent, and if the top quark mass is less than 120 GeV, the bound is lowered to 2600 GeV. Neutralino states that are mostly gaugino are constrained to be lighter than 550 GeV. It is found that a heavy neutralino that contributes omega(sub X) is approximately 1 arises for a very wide range of model parameters and makes, therefore, a very natural and attractive dark matter candidate.

Griest, Kim↗

On the observability of the gamma-ray line flux from dark matter annihilation

The limits on the possible cosmic gamma-ray line flux from the two-photon annihilation of dark matter in the Galaxy are discussed. These limits are derived using both particle physics and cosmological constraints on dark matter candidates which arise in supersymmetric extensions of the standard model of particle physics. Results are given in terms of allowed and prescribed areas in the flux-energy plane. Then these bounds are used to consider the observability of the line flux above continuum background fluxes using future high-resolution gamma-ray telescopes.

Rudaz, S.↗

Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Data Processing, Sky Maps, and Basic Results

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) is a Medium-Class Explorer (MIDEX) satellite aimed at elucidating cosmology through full-sky observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The WMAP full-sky maps of the temperature and polarization anisotropy in five frequency bands provide our most accurate view to date of conditions in the early universe. The multi-frequency data facilitate the separation of the CMB signal from foreground emission arising both from our Galaxy and from extragalactic sources. The CMB angular power spectrum derived from these maps exhibits a highly coherent acoustic peak structure which makes it possible to extract a wealth of information about the composition and history of the universe. as well as the processes that seeded the fluctuations. WMAP data have played a key role in establishing ACDM as the new standard model of cosmology (Bennett et al. 2003: Spergel et al. 2003; Hinshaw et al. 2007: Spergel et al. 2007): a flat universe dominated by dark energy, supplemented by dark matter and atoms with density fluctuations seeded by a Gaussian, adiabatic, nearly scale invariant process. The basic properties of this universe are determined by five numbers: the density of matter, the density of atoms. the age of the universe (or equivalently, the Hubble constant today), the amplitude of the initial fluctuations, and their scale dependence. By accurately measuring the first few peaks in the angular power spectrum, WMAP data have enabled the following accomplishments: Showing the dark matter must be non-baryonic and interact only weakly with atoms and radiation. The WMAP measurement of the dark matter density puts important constraints on supersymmetric dark matter models and on the properties of other dark matter candidates. With five years of data and a better determination of our beam response, this measurement has been significantly improved. Precise determination of the density of atoms in the universe. The agreement between the atomic density derived from WMAP and the density inferred from the deuterium abundance is an important test of the standard big bang model. Determination of the acoustic scale at redshift z = 1090. Similarly, the recent measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the galaxy power spectrum (Eisenstein et al. 2005) has determined the acoustic scale at redshift z approx. 0.35. When combined, these standard rulers accurately measure the geometry of the universe and the properties of the dark energy. These data require a nearly flat universe dominated by dark energy consistent with a cosmological constant. Precise determination of the Hubble Constant, in conjunction with BAO observations. Even when allowing curvature (Omega(sub 0) does not equal 1) and a free dark energy equation of state (w does not equal -1), the acoustic data determine the Hubble constant to within 3%. The measured value is in excellent agreement with independent results from the Hubble Key Project (Freedman et al. 2001), providing yet another important consistency test for the standard model. Significant constraint of the basic properties of the primordial fluctuations. The anti-correlation seen in the temperature/polarization (TE) correlation spectrum on 4deg scales implies that the fluctuations are primarily adiabatic and rule out defect models and isocurvature models as the primary source of fluctuations (Peiris et al. 2003).

Weiland, J.L.↗