Limits on Violations of Lorentz Symmetry and the Einstein Equivalence Principle using Radio-Frequency Spectroscopy of Atomic Dysprosium

2013/03/31 by Michael Hohensee, M. A. Hohensee, N. Leefer +5
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algebraic and Geometric Analysis #Atomic physics #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Dysprosium #Einstein #Equivalence (formal languages) #Equivalence principle (geometric) #Lorentz transformation #Mathematics #Noncommutative and Quantum Gravity Theories #Nuclear physics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Spectroscopy #Symmetry (geometry) #gr-qc #hep-ph #physics.atom-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.111.050401

published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 050401 (2013) · Updated to match published version

arxiv created 2013/07/29 · openalex publication_date 2013/07/29 · arxiv updated 2013/07/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

We report a joint test of local Lorentz invariance and the Einstein equivalence principle for electrons, using long-term measurements of the transition frequency between two nearly degenerate states of atomic dysprosium. We present many-body calculations which demonstrate that the energy splitting of these states is particularly sensitive to violations of both special and general relativity. We limit Lorentz violation for electrons at the level of 10(-17), matching or improving the best laboratory and astrophysical limits by up to a factor of 10, and improve bounds on gravitational redshift anomalies for electrons by 2 orders of magnitude, to 10(-8). With some enhancements, our experiment may be sensitive to Lorentz violation at the level of 9 × 10(-20).

Citations

• Test of Relativistic Gravitation with a Space-Borne Hydrogen Maser
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