Search for Pauli Exclusion Principle Violations with Gator at LNGS

Abstract

The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) appears from fundamental symmetries in quantum field theories, but its physical origin is still to be understood. High-precision experimental searches for small PEP violations permit testing key assumptions of the Standard Model with high sensitivity. We report on a dedicated measurement with Gator, a low-background, high-purity germanium detector operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, aimed at testing PEP-violating atomic transitions in lead. The experimental technique, relying on forming a new symmetry state by introducing electrons into the pre-existing electron system through a direct current, satisfies the conditions of the Messiah-Greenberg superselection rule. No PEP violation has been observed, and an upper limit on the PEP violation probability of ${\beta }^2/2<4.8\cdot 10^{-29}$ (90% CL) is set. This improves the previous constraint from a comparable measurement by more than one order of magnitude.

References in corpus (11)

• Asymptotic formulae for likelihood-based tests of new physics
• DARWIN: towards the ultimate dark matter detector
• Material radioassay and selection for the XENON1T dark matter experiment
• Gator: a low-background counting facility at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory
• An Improved Limit on Pauli-Exclusion-Principle Forbidden Atomic Transitions
• X rays test the Pauli exclusion principle
• Testing Noncommutative Spacetimes and Violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle with underground experiments
• Experimental search for the violation of Pauli Exclusion Principle
• Theories of violation of statistics
• Strongest atomic physics bounds on Non-Commutative Quantum Gravity Models
• The upgraded low-background germanium counting facility Gator for high-sensitivity $\gamma$-ray spectrometry

Cited by in corpus (1)

• New limits on the Pauli forbidden transitions in 12C nuclei obtained with the complete Borexino dataset