2014/02/01 by S. Sturm, Sven Sturm, Florian Köhler +12 · 5 citations
Decision Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Atomic mass #Atomic physics #Bound state #Constant (computer programming) #Electron #Fine-structure constant #Ion #Ionization #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Radioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques #Rydberg constant #Rydberg formula #Scientific Measurement and Uncertainty Evaluation #Work (physics) #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/nature13026
published as Nature 506 (2014) 467-470
openalex publication_date 2014/02/01 · arxiv created 2014/06/21 · arxiv updated 2014/06/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
The quest for the value of the electron's atomic mass has been subject of continuing efforts over the last decades. Among the seemingly fundamental constants which parameterize the Standard Model (SM) of physics and which are thus responsible for its predictive power, the electron mass me plays a prominent role, as it is responsible for the structure and properties of atoms and molecules. This manifests in the close link with other fundamental constants, such as the Rydberg constant and the fine-structure constant α. However, the low mass of the electron considerably complicates its precise determination. In this work we present a substantial improvement by combining a very accurate measurement of the magnetic moment of a single electron bound to a carbon nucleus with a state-of-the-art calculation in the framework of bound-state Quantum Electrodynamics. The achieved precision of the atomic mass of the electron surpasses the current CODATA value by a factor of 13. Accordingly, the result presented in this letter lays the foundation for future fundamental physics experiments and precision tests of the SM.