Speaker
Dr
Johann Marton
(Senior Scientist)
Description
The VIP2 (VIolation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) is testing standard quantum mechanics by searching for possible violation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) – a consequence of the spin statistics theorem. Due to the high sensitivity it can also test present models of quantum gravity, which can embed PEP violations.
VIP2 is extremely sensitive to Pauli-forbidden atomic transitions in copper atoms using precision X-ray spectroscopy. We will present the used experimental method for the search of Pauli-forbidden X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by "new" electrons, which could have tiny probability to undergo Pauli-forbidden transition to the ground state already occupied by two electrons. We will describe the VIP2 experimental setup and recent optimizations. The goal of VIP2 is to test the PEP for electrons in accordance with the Messiah-Greenberg super-selection rule at unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10E-31. We will present current experimental results and discuss implications of a possible violation.
Work partially supported by the Austrian Science Fund (project P 30635-N36)
Primary author
Dr
Johann Marton
(Senior Scientist)
