Answering fundamental nuclear physics questions with muonic atoms
Simone Salvatore Li Muli
(Chalmers University of Technology)
(Chalmers University of Technology)
Precision laser spectroscopy of simple atomic systems offers a robust test of the
Standard Model and serves as a sensitive tool for exploring its potential
extensions. Muonic atoms have recently taken center stage in precision physics.
Because the mass of the muon is approximately 200 times that of the electron,
muonic atoms probe nuclear structure effects with higher precision compared to
ordinary atoms. Over the past decade, this capability has led to an order-of-magnitude
improvement in determinations of the charge radii of the proton, the
deuteron, and helium nuclei.
The difference between the charge radii of the He-3 nucleus and the He-4 nucleus was recently spotlighted in a 3.6 sigma discrepancy between extractions from ordinary atoms and those from muonic atoms. The error bars in these radii extractions from muonic atom experiments are largely dominated by uncertainties stemming from theoretical calculations of nuclear structure effects.
In this seminar, I will present a calculation of the nuclear structure effects of the Lamb-shift in muonic helium atoms based on chiral effective field theory. I will then discuss how Bayesian statistics can be used for obtaining a robust uncertainty quantification of the nuclear structure effects.
The difference between the charge radii of the He-3 nucleus and the He-4 nucleus was recently spotlighted in a 3.6 sigma discrepancy between extractions from ordinary atoms and those from muonic atoms. The error bars in these radii extractions from muonic atom experiments are largely dominated by uncertainties stemming from theoretical calculations of nuclear structure effects.
In this seminar, I will present a calculation of the nuclear structure effects of the Lamb-shift in muonic helium atoms based on chiral effective field theory. I will then discuss how Bayesian statistics can be used for obtaining a robust uncertainty quantification of the nuclear structure effects.