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Fine-structure constant sensitivity of the Th-229 nuclear clock transition

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arxiv 2407.17300 v1 pith:YLWG6BB4 submitted 2024-07-24 nucl-th nucl-exphysics.atom-ph

classification nucl-thnucl-exphysics.atom-ph
keywords deltanuclearconstantchangesclockdifferencefine-structureground
verification ladder T0 review T1 audit T2 compute T3 formal
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abstract

State-resolved laser spectroscopy at the 10$^{-12}$ precision level recently reported in $arXiv$:2406.18719 determined the fractional change in nuclear quadrupole moment between the ground and isomeric state of $^{229}\rm{Th}$, $\Delta Q_0/Q_0$=1.791(2) %. Assuming a prolate spheroid nucleus, this allows to quantify the sensitivity of the nuclear transition frequency to variations of the fine-structure constant $\alpha$ to $K=5900(2300)$, with the uncertainty dominated by the experimentally measured charge radius difference $\Delta \langle r^2 \rangle$ between the ground and isomeric state. This result indicates a three orders of magnitude enhancement over atomic clock schemes based on electron shell transitions. We find that $\Delta Q_0$ is highly sensitive to tiny changes in the nuclear volume, thus the constant volume approximation cannot be used to accurately relate changes in $\langle r^2 \rangle$ and $Q_0$. The difference between the experimental and estimated values in $\Delta Q_0/Q_0$ raises a further question on the octupole contribution to the alpha-sensitivity.

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Forward citations

Cited by 4 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Laser-Induced Quenching of the Th-229 Nuclear Clock Isomer in Calcium Fluoride

    physics.atom-ph 2024-12 conditional novelty 8.0 of 10

    Laser light quenches the 229Th isomer in CaF2, shortening its lifetime threefold at room temperature; the effect is wavelength-independent below 420 nm, temperature-activated, and absent above 729 nm.

  2. A First Bound on the Moffat Energy and Thorium--229 Clock as a Probe of the Nonlocal Time-Energy Structure

    quant-ph 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Published 229Th clock data, under an assumed quadratic nonlocal frequency-shift with unit coefficient, set E_M > 22.3 MeV (direct), >1.72 GeV (enhanced), and up to ~27 TeV (nuclear-scale illustration).

  3. Using the Th III Ion for a Nuclear Clock and Searches for New Physics

    physics.atom-ph 2024-12 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Predicted 10,000-fold electronic-bridge enhancement for exciting the 229Th nuclear clock transition in Th III, plus a 1.7-times lifetime reduction and strong new-physics sensitivity factors.

  4. Electronic Bridge processes in $^{229}$Th-doped LiCAF and LiSAF

    physics.atom-ph 2025-07 conditional novelty 5.0 of 10

    In thorium-doped LiCAF and LiSAF crystals, laser-assisted electronic bridge processes can excite and quench the 229Th nuclear clock transition far faster than direct laser excitation or radiative decay.

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