Lasercooled radium monofluoride: A molecular all-in-one probe for new physics

Abstract

The particular advantages of using the diatomic molecule radium monofluoride (RaF) as a versatile molecular probe for physics beyond the Standard Model are highlighted. i) RaF was previously suggested as being potentially amenable to direct cooling with lasers. As shown in the present work, RaF's energetically lowest electronically excited state is of ${}^2\Pi$ symmetry (in contrast to BaF), such that no low-lying ${}^2\Delta$ state prevents efficient optical cooling cycles. ii) The effective electric field acting on the unpaired electron in the electronic ground state of RaF is estimated larger than in YbF, from which the best restrictions on the electron electric dipole moment (eEDM) were obtained experimentally. iii) Favourable crossings of spin-rotational levels of opposite parity in external magnetic fields exist, which are important for the measurement of the nuclear anapole moment of nuclei with a valence neutron. Thus, RaF appears currently as one of the most attractive candidates for investigation of parity-odd as well as simultaneously parity- and time-reversal-odd interactions in the realms of molecular physics.

Minor correction of the 2013 manuscript version: Notes regarding theoretical estimate of omega_e added to caption and footnote of table 1 (conversion factors, uncertainty of fit, exchange of two entries), reference included and corrected, parity information in ancillary file corrected. 5 pages, 2 tables, ancillary file with 3 figures and additional details

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• Parity violation in nuclear magnetic resonance frequencies of chiral tetrahedral tungsten complexes NWXYZ (X, Y, Z = H, F, Cl, Br or I)
• Ab initio study and assignment of electronic states in molecular RaCl