Search for a neutron Electric Dipole Moment (nEDM) at Los Alamos National Lab

The Standard Model predicts a permanent neutron electric dipole moment (nEDM) |d_n| < 10^-31 e·cm as a consequence of CP-violation. But this degree of CP-violation is incompatible with the observed matter/antimatter asymmetry of the universe, providing indirect evidence for new CP-violating processes. Increasingly stringent limits on the actual size of the nEDM increasingly constrain the set of possibilities for such new physical phenomena. The LANL nEDM collaboration aims to improve the current empirical 1σ limit |d_n| < 1.1 x 10^-26 e·cm by a factor of six after a single year of continuous running using state-of-the-art versions of established techniques to control systematic effects in a room-temperature, double-cell experiment with a ¹⁹⁹Hg co-magnetometer and simultaneous spin analysis. Improvements in available ultracold neutron (UCN) density at the Los Alamos UCN source provide the required statistical sensitivity. Progress commissioning the experiment and a timeline for production running will be presented.