Effects of confinement on the permanent electric-dipole moment of Xe atoms in liquid Xe

Abstract

Searches for permanent electric-dipole moments (EDM) of atoms provide important constraints on competing extensions to the standard model of elementary particles. Recently proposed experiment with liquid $^{129}$Xe [M.V. Romalis and M.P. Ledbetter, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{87}, 067601 (2001)] may significantly improve present limits on the EDMs. To interpret experimental data in terms of CP-violating sources, one must relate measured atomic EDM to various model interactions via electronic-structure calculations. Here we study density dependence of atomic EDMs. The analysis is carried out in the framework of the cell model of the liquid coupled with relativistic atomic-structure calculations. We find that compared to an isolated atom, the EDM of an atom of liquid Xe is suppressed by about 40%