Nucleon Electric Dipole Moments in Paramagnetic Molecules through Effective Field Theory
Abstract
Electric dipole moment (EDM) measurements using paramagnetic molecules have significantly advanced over the last decade. Traditionally, these experiments have been analyzed in terms of the electron EDM. However, paramagnetic molecules are also sensitive to hadronic sources of charge-parity (CP) violation, highlighting the need for a new framework to interpret the experimental results. In this Letter, we introduce an effective field theory framework to relate molecular EDMs to the EDMs of neutrons and protons. We identify the dominant contributions through power counting and pinpoint the necessary nuclear matrix elements. As a practical application, we employ the nuclear shell model to calculate these nuclear matrix elements for the polar molecule BaF. Finally, we estimate the limits on the nucleon EDMs set by current molecular EDM experiments.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Advanced NMR Techniques and Applications
Advanced Physical and Chemical Molecular Interactions
Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Physical Review Letters
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Volume
- 136
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 201803–201803
- Publication date
- 20 April 2026
- Language
- EN