New experimental limit on Pauli Exclusion Principle violation by electrons (the VIP experiment)

The Pauli Exclusion Principle is one of the basic principles of modern physics and is at the very basis of our understanding of matter: thus it is fundamental importance to test the limits of its validity. Here we present the VIP (Violation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle) experiment, where we search for anomalous X-rays emitted by copper atoms in a conductor: any detection of these anomalous X-rays would mark a Pauli-forbidden transition. ] VIP is currently taking data at the Gran Sasso underground laboratories, and its scientific goal is to improve by at least four orders of magnitude the previous limit on the probability of Pauli violating transitions, bringing it into the 10**-29 - 10**-30 region. First experimental results, together with future plans, are presented.Comment: To appear in proceedings of the XLVI International Winter Meeting on Nuclear Physics, Bormio, Italy, January 20-26, 200

Testing the Pauli Exclusion Principle for Electrons

One of the fundamental rules of nature and a pillar in the foundation of quantum theory and thus of modern physics is represented by the Pauli Exclusion Principle. We know that this principle is extremely well fulfilled due to many observations. Numerous experiments were performed to search for tiny violation of this rule in various systems. The experiment VIP at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory is searching for possible small violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons leading to forbidden X-ray transitions in copper atoms. VIP is aiming at a test of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons with high accuracy, down to the level of 10$^{-29}$ - 10$^{-30}$, thus improving the previous limit by 3-4 orders of magnitude. The experimental method, results obtained so far and new developments within VIP2 (follow-up experiment at Gran Sasso, in preparation) to further increase the precision by 2 orders of magnitude will be presented.Comment: Proceedings DISCRETE 2012-Third Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete Symmetries, Lisbon, December 3-7, 201

High sensitivity tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle with VIP2

The Pauli Exclusion Principle is one of the most fundamental rules of nature and represents a pillar of modern physics. According to many observations the Pauli Exclusion Principle must be extremely well fulfilled. Nevertheless, numerous experimental investigations were performed to search for a small violation of this principle. The VIP experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory searched for Pauli-forbidden X-ray transitions in copper atoms using the Ramberg-Snow method and obtained the best limit so far. The follow-up experiment VIP2 is designed to reach even higher sensitivity. It aims to improve the limit by VIP by orders of magnitude. The experimental method, comparison of different PEP tests based on different assumptions and the developments for VIP2 are presented.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings DISCRETE2014 Conferenc

Shedding New Light on Kaon-Nucleon/Nuclei Interaction and Its Astrophysical Implications with the AMADEUS Experiment at DAFNE

The AMADEUS experiment deals with the investigation of the low-energy kaon-nuclei hadronic interaction at the DA{\Phi}NE collider at LNF-INFN, which is fundamental to respond longstanding questions in the non-perturbative QCD strangeness sector. The antikaon-nucleon potential is investigated searching for signals from possible bound kaonic clusters, which would open the possibility for the formation of cold dense baryonic matter. The confirmation of this scenario may imply a fundamental role of strangeness in astrophysics. AMADEUS step 0 consisted in the reanalysis of 2004/2005 KLOE dataset, exploiting K- absorptions in H, 4He, 9Be and 12C in the setup materials. In this paper, together with a review on the multi-nucleon K- absorption and the particle identification procedure, the first results on the {\Sigma}0-p channel will be presented including a statistical analysis on the possible accomodation of a deeply bound stateComment: 6 pages, 2 figure, 1 table, HADRON 2015 conferenc

New experimental limit on Pauli Exclusion Principle violation by electrons (the VIP experiment)

The Pauli exclusion principle (PEP) represents one of the basic principles of modern physics and, even if there are no compelling reasons to doubt its validity, it still spurs a lively debate, because an intuitive, elementary explanation is still missing, and because of its unique stand among the basic symmetries of physics. A new limit on the probability that PEP is violated by electrons was estabilished by the VIP (VIolation of the Pauli exclusion principle) Collaboration, using the method of searching for PEP forbidden atomic transitions in copper. The preliminary value, {1/2}\beta^{2} \textless 4.5\times 10^{-28}, represents an improvement of about two orders of magnitude of the previous limit. The goal of VIP is to push this limit at the level of $10^{-30}$.Comment: submitted to Journal of Physics: Conference Series, by the Institute of Physic

Application of photon detectors in the VIP2 experiment to test the Pauli Exclusion Principle

The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) was introduced by the austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli in 1925. Since then, several experiments have checked its validity. From 2006 until 2010, the VIP (VIolation of the Pauli Principle) experiment took data at the LNGS underground laboratory to test the PEP. This experiment looked for electronic 2p to 1s transitions in copper, where 2 electrons are in the 1s state before the transition happens. These transitions violate the PEP. The lack of detection of X-ray photons coming from these transitions resulted in a preliminary upper limit for the violation of the PEP of $4.7 \times 10^{-29}$. Currently, the successor experiment VIP2 is under preparation. The main improvements are, on one side, the use of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) as X-ray photon detectors. On the other side an active shielding is implemented, which consists of plastic scintillator bars read by Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). The employment of these detectors will improve the upper limit for the violation of the PEP by around 2 orders of magnitude

VIP 2: Experimental tests of the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons

The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) was famously discovered in 1925 by the austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli. Since then, it underwent several experimental tests. Starting in 2006, the VIP (Violation of the Pauli Principle) experiment looked for 2p to 1s X-ray transitions in copper, where 2 electrons are present in the 1s state before the transition happens. These transitions violate the PEP, and the lack of detection of the corresponding X-ray photons lead to a preliminary upper limit for the violation of the PEP of 4.7 * 10^(-29). The follow-up experiment VIP 2 is currently in the testing phase and will be transported to its final destination, the underground laboratory of Gran Sasso in Italy, in autumn 2015. Several improvements compared to its predecessor like the use of new X-ray detectors and active shielding from background gives rise to a goal for the improvement of the upper limit of the probability for the violation of the Pauli Exclusion Principle of 2 orders of magnitude

Searches for the Violation of Pauli Exclusion Principle at LNGS in VIP(-2) experiment

The VIP (Violation of Pauli exclusion principle) experiment and its follow-up experiment VIP-2 at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) search for X-rays from Cu atomic states that are prohibited by the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP). The candidate events, if they exist, will originate from the transition of a $2p$ orbit electron to the ground state which is already occupied by two electrons. The present limit on the probability for PEP violation for electron is 4.7 $\times10^{-29}$ set by the VIP experiment. With upgraded detectors for high precision X-ray spectroscopy, the VIP-2 experiment will improve the sensitivity by two orders of magnitude.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Conference proceedings for oral presentation at TAUP 2015, Torin

Unprecedented studies of the low-energy negatively charged kaons interactions in nuclear matter by AMADEUS

The AMADEUS experiment aims to provide unique quality data of $K^-$ hadronic interactions in light nuclear targets, in order to solve fundamental open questions in the non-perturbative strangeness QCD sector, like the controversial nature of the $\Lambda(1405)$ state, the yield of hyperon formation below threshold, the yield and shape of multi-nucleon $K^-$ absorption, processes which are intimately connected to the possible existence of exotic antikaon multi-nucleon clusters. AMADEUS takes advantage of the DA$\Phi$NE collider, which provides a unique source of monochromatic low-momentum kaons and exploits the KLOE detector as an active target, in order to obtain excellent acceptance and resolution data for $K^-$ nuclear capture on H, ${}^4$He, ${}^{9}$Be and ${}^{12}$C, both at-rest and in-flight. During the second half of 2012 a successful data taking was performed with a dedicated pure carbon target implemented in the central region of KLOE, providing a high statistic sample of pure at-rest $K^-$ nuclear interactions. For the future dedicated setups involving cryogenic gaseous targets are under preparation.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Testing the Pauli Exclusion Principle for electrons at LNGS

High-precision experiments have been done to test the Pauli exclusion principle (PEP) for electrons by searching for anomalous $K$-series X-rays from a Cu target supplied with electric current. With the highest sensitivity, the VIP (VIolation of Pauli Exclusion Principle) experiment set an upper limit at the level of $10^{-29}$ for the probability that an external electron captured by a Cu atom can make the transition from the 2$p$ state to a 1$s$ state already occupied by two electrons. In a follow-up experiment at Gran Sasso, we aim to increase the sensitivity by two orders of magnitude. We show proofs that the proposed improvement factor is realistic based on the results from recent performance tests of the detectors we did at Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (LNF).Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, conference proceedings on TAUP 201