Abstract
We report a joint test of local Lorentz invariance and the Einstein equivalence principle for electrons, using long-term measurements of the transition frequency between two nearly degenerate states of atomic dysprosium. We present many-body calculations which demonstrate that the energy splitting of these states is particularly sensitive to violations of both special and general relativity. We limit Lorentz violation for electrons at the level of , matching or improving the best laboratory and astrophysical limits by up to a factor of 10, and improve bounds on gravitational redshift anomalies for electrons by 2 orders of magnitude, to . With some enhancements, our experiment may be sensitive to Lorentz violation at the level of .
- Received 14 March 2013
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.050401
© 2013 American Physical Society
Focus
Testing Relativity Using Earth’s Motion
Published 29 July 2013
An experiment that searched for violations of relativity with unprecedented precision may lead to new probes of phenomena beyond standard physics theories.
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