Probing New Hadronic Forces with Heavy Exotic Atoms

Area of Science:

• Atomic Physics
• Particle Physics
• Nuclear Physics

Background:

• Exotic atoms, where electrons are replaced by hadrons, offer unique systems for probing fundamental physics.
• Precision spectroscopy of these atoms can reveal new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential of precision spectroscopy of heavy exotic atoms for detecting new force carriers.
• To establish new methods for extracting nuclear properties like dipole polarizability.
• To set stringent bounds on the masses of hypothetical new force mediators.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing precision spectroscopy of heavy exotic atoms with negative hadrons.
• Performing highly accurate calculations using bound-state Quantum Electrodynamics (QED).
• Combining spectroscopy of two specific transitions to determine nuclear dipole polarizability.

Main Results:

• Selected transitions are unaffected by nuclear contact terms, enabling accurate QED calculations.
• A novel method for extracting nuclear dipole polarizability from exotic atom spectroscopy was demonstrated.
• World-leading bounds on mediator masses (0.1–10 MeV) were extracted for two benchmark models.

Conclusions:

• Precision spectroscopy of exotic atoms is a promising avenue for discovering new force carriers.
• Forthcoming experiments have the potential to significantly improve sensitivity to new physics by two orders of magnitude.