Speaker
Catalina Curceanu
(LNF-INFN)
Description
The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP), reflecting the spin-statistics connection, represents a fundamental principle of the modern physics. Even if today there are no compelling reasons to doubt its validity, it still spurs a lively debate on its possible limits, as testified by the abundant contributions found in the literature and in topical conferences. We present a method of searching for possible small violations of PEP for electrons, through the search for "anomalous" X-ray transitions in copper atoms, produced by "new" electrons (brought inside the copper bar by circulating current) which can have the probability to do the Pauli-forbidden transition to the 1 s level already occupied by two electrons. We describe, then, the VIP (VIolation of PEP) experiment, a much improved version of the Ramberg and Snow one (Ramberg and Snow, Phys. Lett. B238 (1990) 438); VIP is in data taking since 2006 at the Gran Sasso underground laboratories. The goal of VIP is to test the PEP for electrons with unprecedented accuracy, down to a limit in the probability that PEP is violated at the level of 10**-29 - 10**-30, so improving on Ramberg and Snow limit by 3-4 orders of magnitude.
We report preliminary experimental results and briefly discuss some of the
implications of a possible violation.
Author
Catalina Curceanu
(LNF-INFN)