Colloquia

Remarkably, the virtual exchange of exotic heavy particles--such as those predicted to exist in supersymmetric and grand unified theories-- can lead to observable effects in ordinary matter. This talk will describe a set of experiments searching for such an effect: namely, a permanent electric dipole moment along the spin of the electron. The most sensitive experiments of this type are already sensitive to new physics at the TeV scale, and set important limits on possible extensions to the standard model. I will report on our progress in developing a new technique, which promises several orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity.