Computation of correlation effects on the parity-nonconserving electric-dipole transition in atomic ytterbium

A high-precision experiment to measure parity-nonconservation in atomic Yb has been proposed recently [D. De Mille, Phys. Rev. Lett. 74, 4165 (1995)]. We use a relativistic configuration-interaction approach to highlight the importance of correlation effects in the ${6s}^2{(}^1{S}_0)\to {6s5d(}^3{D}_1)$ parity-nonconserving electric transition amplitude for Yb. Our result shows that this transition amplitude is dramatically altered by the strong mixing between some of the configurations that make up the odd-parity ${6s6p(}^1{P}_1)$ atomic state.