Atomic parity violation measurements in the highly forbidden 6S 1/2 - 7S1/2 caesium transition. - III. Data acquisition and processing. Results and implications

Abstract

This paper completes the detailed presentation of our PV experiment on the 6S1/2 - 7S1/2 transition in Cs. A detailed description of the data acquisition and processing is given. The results of two independent measurements made on ΔF = 0 and ΔF =1 hfs components agree, providing an important cross-check. After a complete reanalysis of systematics and calibration, the precision is slightly improved, leading to the weighted average Im Epv 1/β = - 1.52 ± 0.18 mV/cm. Later results from an independent group agree quite well. With the semi-empirical value β = (26.8 ± 0.8) a30, our result yields Epv1 = (- 0.79 ± 0.10) x 10-11 i |e|a0. Coupled with the atomic calculations, this implies that the weak nuclear charge of Cs is Qw = -68 ± 9. This value agrees with the standard electroweak theory and leads to a weak interaction angle sin2 θ W = 0.21 ± 0.04. The complementarity of these measurements with high energy experiments is illustrated