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Researchers seeking the fourth property of electrons
Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres ^ | July 20, 2010 | Unknown

Posted on 07/20/2010 1:39:51 PM PDT by decimon

Electric dipole moment would explain the creation of the universe in the form that we know it

This release is available in German.

IMAGE: Juelich researchers want to demonstrate the electric dipole moment of the electron in cooperation with colleagues in the USA and the Czech Republic. Many physical theories presume its existence --... Click here for more information.

Electrons are negatively charged elementary particles. They form the shells around atoms and ions. This or something similar is what you will find in text books. Soon, however, this information may have to be supplemented. The reason is that many physicists believe that electrons have a permanent electric dipole moment. An electric dipole moment is usually created when positive and negative charges are spatially separated. Similar to the north and south poles of a magnet, there are two electric poles. In the case of electrons, the situation is much more complicated because electrons should not actually have any spatial dimension. Despite this, an entire range of physical theories that go beyond the standard model of elementary particle physics are based upon the existence of dipole moment. These theories in turn would explain how the universe in the form that we know it could have been created in the first place. According to prevailing theories, the big bang some 13.7 billion years ago would have had to have created just as much matter as antimatter. Since both obliterate each other, nothing would have remained. In reality, however, more matter than antimatter was actually created. An electric dipole moment of the electron could explain this imbalance.

Up to now, nobody has successfully proven the existence of this assumed tiny dipole moment. Existing methods are simply not sensitive enough. A small piece of ceramic is set to change this soon. Dr. Marjana Ležaić and Dr. Konstantin Rushchanskii from the Institute of Solid State Physics at Forschungszentrum Jülich and Professor Nicola Spaldin from the University of California in Santa Barbara designed this ceramic, which has very special properties, in a virtual laboratory using the Jülich supercomputer JUROPA. The new europium barium titanate should enable measurements to be 10 times more sensitive than they were in the past. According to the Jülich physicists, "this could be sufficient to find the electric dipole moment of the electron".

As electric moment cannot be directly measured, the physicists are working together with scientists from the American Yale University as well as with Czech research institutions in Prague in order to indirectly prove its existence. The researchers in Yale have developed an experimental setup that uses an extremely sensitive SQUID magnetometer to measure the magnetization of the piece of ceramic in an electric field. Their aim is to demonstrate a change in the magnetization when the electric field is reversed. This would simultaneously be the sought-after evidence that the electric dipole moment exists. In an electron, an electric dipole can only ever be oriented parallel or anti-parallel to the electron spin. In an electric field, most of the electrons are oriented so that their dipole moment is parallel to the field. Fewer are oriented in the other direction. This should lead to a measurable magnetization. If the electric field is reversed, the dipole moments of the electrons are reversed leading consequently to a simultaneous, measurable change in the magnetization. Without an electric dipole moment, on the other hand, the magnetization would remain unchanged.

"It would have been very difficult to find such a well-suited material by trial and error," said Ležaić. This material must have an unusual combination of properties: a high concentration of magnetic ions, magnetic disorder at temperatures below four degrees Kelvin and a reversible electric polarization. "Our colleagues in Yale who came up with the idea of the measurements and conducted them had already tested different materials. However, a new material with all of the necessary properties can be found faster with the use of theoretical analysis and computer simulations." Ležaić, as the head of the young investigators group, her group member Rushchanskii, and her cooperation partner Spaldin virtually synthesized and analysed europium barium titanate on the supercomputer in Jülich. To do so, all they needed was its chemical composition and the basic equations of quantum mechanics. From these, they calculated the interaction between individual atoms and electrons and the local magnetic properties. So it was that they found the optimum ceramic.

Team colleagues in Prague have already synthesized and characterized the material in the laboratory and confirmed the properties calculated in Jülich. Only the sought-after dipole moment of the electron remains undiscovered. "Unwanted effects are still inhibiting the measurements," said a disappointed Ležaić. "But we're working intensively on improving the material even further."

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Original publication: A multiferroic material to search for the permanent electric dipole moment of the electron; DOI: 10.1038/NMAT2799

Further information: Forschungszentrum Jülich: http://www.fz-juelich.de/portal/presse/pressemitteilungen Research group at the Institute of Solid State Research, Forschungszentrum Jülich: http://www.fz-juelich.de/iff/d_th1_ng_lezaic_staff Working group at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA: http://www.mrl.ucsb.edu/~nicola/ Working group at Yale University: http://www.yale.edu/physics/research/atomic.shtml Working groups in Prague: http://drupal.fzu.cz/en/department/12 http://cmd.karlov.mff.cuni.cz/kfes/staff/Prokleska.php http://www.geology.cz/portal/page/portal/shared/f/frantisek.laufek

Press contact: Angela Wenzik, science journalist, Institute of Solid State Research, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany, tel. +49 2461 61-6048, email: a.wenzik@fz-juelich.de

Forschungszentrum Jülich…

… pursues cutting-edge interdisciplinary research on solving the grand challenges facing society in the fields of health, energy and environment, and information technology. In combination with the two key competencies – physics and supercomputing – work at Jülich concentrates both on long-term, fundamental and multidisciplinary contributions to science and technology, as well as on specific technological applications. With a staff of about 4,400, Jülich – a member of the Helmholtz Association – is one of the largest research centres in Europe.


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; science; stringtheory
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To: dangerdoc

I have some monopole magnets for sale.

Two for one deal. Joint manufacture means cost savings. Each magnet contains one NORTH monopole, and one SOUTH monopole.

Use whichever pole you like.


21 posted on 07/20/2010 3:31:52 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The Last Boy Scout)
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To: Monkey Face
they will ALL know the Truth of what has been speculated for centuries.

I bet what they find out is that they weren't even close.

22 posted on 07/20/2010 3:33:04 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The Last Boy Scout)
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To: decimon

ping


23 posted on 07/20/2010 3:33:50 PM PDT by muir_redwoods (Obama. Chauncey Gardiner without the homburg.)
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To: UCANSEE2

Well...close, but no cigar...
There is so MUCH to learn!

I heard once that man only uses about 10-12% of his brain capacity. So what is the rest of it for?


24 posted on 07/20/2010 3:34:46 PM PDT by Monkey Face (Welcome home to my awesome army grandson!! Prayers and yellow ribbons for Anoreth of CG fame!)
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To: Monkey Face
I heard once that man only uses about 10-12% of his brain capacity. So what is the rest of it for?

This.

25 posted on 07/20/2010 4:10:55 PM PDT by decimon
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To: decimon

“This” as in, “what we have no clue about now?” Roger that.


26 posted on 07/20/2010 4:23:19 PM PDT by Monkey Face (Welcome home to my awesome army grandson!! Prayers and yellow ribbons for Anoreth of CG fame!)
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To: UCANSEE2

Sorry semi-obscure Larry Niven reference.


27 posted on 07/20/2010 4:34:59 PM PDT by dangerdoc
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To: decimon

So what are the first 3 properties? Mass, angular moment and charge?


28 posted on 07/20/2010 5:11:24 PM PDT by samtheman
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To: samtheman
So what are the first 3 properties? Mass, angular moment and charge?

Dunno.

29 posted on 07/20/2010 5:50:24 PM PDT by decimon
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To: Monkey Face
I heard once that man only uses about 10-12% of his brain capacity. So what is the rest of it for?

Thinking about 'sex'.

At least that's what women keep telling us.

30 posted on 07/20/2010 6:14:16 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The Last Boy Scout)
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To: UCANSEE2
At least that's what women keep telling us.

So, these women,.... are they hawt!??

31 posted on 07/20/2010 6:16:17 PM PDT by meyer (Big government is the enemy of freedom.)
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To: Monkey Face

You’re already suspended, all that bungie jumping you do.


32 posted on 07/20/2010 6:35:18 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: UCANSEE2

*kof-kof*

I IS a wimmin, in case you axe. You can call me ‘Face, for lack of anything better....

:o])


33 posted on 07/20/2010 6:37:44 PM PDT by Monkey Face (Welcome home to my awesome army grandson!! Prayers and yellow ribbons for Anoreth of CG fame!)
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To: SunkenCiv

You know, oh Judge of Bunjie stuff!
(Hiya, Stranger!)


34 posted on 07/20/2010 6:54:05 PM PDT by Monkey Face (Welcome home to my awesome army grandson!! Prayers and yellow ribbons for Anoreth of CG fame!)
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To: Monkey Face

So..... Jennifer looks pretty good for a woman her age... huh.


35 posted on 07/20/2010 7:36:52 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The Last Boy Scout)
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To: wendy1946
nobody has successfully proven the existence of this assumed tiny dipole moment.

Well, we men don't like to talk about certain 'dreams' we used to have just around puberty.

36 posted on 07/20/2010 7:42:03 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The Last Boy Scout)
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To: UCANSEE2; SunkenCiv

And so did I!!
At my age...*kof*...I’ve been mistaken for someone half my age. (She says.)


37 posted on 07/20/2010 7:44:38 PM PDT by Monkey Face (Welcome home to my awesome army grandson!! Prayers and yellow ribbons for Anoreth of CG fame!)
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To: meyer
So, these women,.... are they hawt!??

The electrons are, the neutrons, not so much.

38 posted on 07/20/2010 7:55:53 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The Last Boy Scout)
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To: meyer
Although.....


39 posted on 07/20/2010 7:57:24 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The Last Boy Scout)
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To: dangerdoc
Sorry semi-obscure Larry Niven reference.

The entire Universe is made up of semi-obscure references.

40 posted on 07/20/2010 7:59:45 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The Last Boy Scout)
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